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t LIBRARY IF CINCRESS, I 

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l| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



••^v 



America not Discovered by Columbus. 



A HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Imnty^ of ^mtm bu tln^ ^crsi^mun, 



IN THE TENTH CENTURY. 



By R. B. AKDERSOJST, A.M., 

Of the Univkrsitv of Wisconsin. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



HISTORICAL, LINGUISTIC, LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC VALUE 
OF THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 



^?^ COPYR/ej ! i 
/ 






CHICAaO: 

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY 
LONDON: TRUBNER & CO. 

1874. 



Entered according to Act of Congresp, in the year 1874, by 

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 



Ol - 7^UO^ 




TO 

STEPHEN H. CAKPENTEE, LL.D., 

Professor of Logic, Rhetoric and English Litkkaturk, 

WHOSE FRIENDSHIP AND SYMPATHY HAVE BEEN A COMFORT 
TO ME IN THE LINE OF STUDIES THAT 
I HAVE PURSUED, 
AND WHOSE VOICE HAS WHISPERED "COURAGE" WHEN- 
EVER I SEEMED TO FALTER IN DESPAIR, 

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE 

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 

AS A TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION, BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PEEFAOE 



"7"N preparing tins sketch, the author has freely 
-*- made use of such material as he considered 
valuable for his purpose from the works of Torfseus, 
C. C. Kafn, J. T. Smith, N. L. Beamish, G. Gravier, 
B. F. De Costa, A. Davis, William and Mary Howitt, 
K. M. Ballantyne, P. A. Munch, K. Keyser, and 
others, and he is under special obligations to Dr. S. 
H. Carpenter, of the University of Wisconsin, for 
valuable suggestions. 

This sketch does not claim to be without faults. 
The style may seem dull and heavy, but it is hoped 
that the reader will be generous in criticising an 
author who now makes his hrst appearance before 
the American public. The object of this sketch 
has been to present a readable and truthful narrative 
of the Norse discovery of America, to create some 
interest in the people, the literature, and the early 



VI PREFACE. 

institutions of Norway, and especially in Iceland, — 
that lonely and weird island, — the Ultima Thule 
of the Greek Philosophers; and of the good or ill 
performance of the task, a generous public must be 
the judge. 

K. B. ANDERSON. 
University of Wisconsin, 

June IS, 187 If. 



CO]N^TE]SrTS 



CHAPTER I. 



The Norsemen, and other Peoples, interested in 

THE Discovery of America, . . . . . 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Norse Literature has been Neglected by the 

Learned Men of the Great Nations. - - - 15 

CHAPTER III. 
Antiquity of America, -..--.- 20 

CHAPTER IV. 
Phenician, Greek, Irish, and Welsh Claims, - - 32 

CHAPTER V. 
Who Were the Norsemen? ------ 24 

CHAPTER VI. 
Iceland, ----------- 28 

CHAPTER VII. 
Greenland, ---------- 35 

CHAPTER Vin. 
The Ships of the Norsemen, - 38 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Sagas and Documents are Genuine, - - - 41 

CHAPTER X. 
B.tarne Herjulfson, 986, 45 

CHAPTER XI. 
Letf Erikson, 1000, - 48 

CHAPTER XII. 
Thorwald Erikson, 1002, ------- 53 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Thorstein Erikson, 1005, 56 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Thorfinn Karlsefne and Gudrid, 1007, - - - 57 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Discovery of America by Columbus, - . - 63 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Other Expeditions by the Norsemen, - . - - 65 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Conclusion, - 74 

APPENDIX. 
The Scandinavian Languages, 77 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NORSEMEN, AND OTHER PEOPLES, INTERESTED 
IN THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

rr^HE object of the following pages is to present 
the reader with a brief account of the discovery 
of, early voyages to, and settlements in the Western 
Continent by the Norsemen, and to prove that Co- 
lumbus must have had knowledge of this discovery 
by the Norsemen before he started to lind America ; 
and the author will not be surprised, if, in these 
pages, he should happen to throw out some thoughts 
which will conflict with the reader's previously- 
formed convictions about matters and things gen- 
erally, and about historical facts especially. 

The interest manifested by the reader of history 
is always greater the nearer the history which he 
reads is connected with his own country or with 
his own ancestors. 

The American student, on the one hand, loves 



10 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

to gaze upon the pages of American history. He 
admires the resohition, the fortitude and persever- 
ance of the Pilgrim Fathers as they passed through 
tlieir varied scenes of hardship and adversity when 
they made their first settlement upon our New 
England shores ; and his whole soul is filled with 
transporting emotions of delight or sympathy as he 
reads the thrilling incidents of the sufierings and the 
victories of his countrymen who fought for his as 
well as for their own freedom during the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

The !Norse student, on the other hand, takes 
special pleasure in perusing the old Sagas and Ed- 
das, and following the Yikings on tlieir daring but 
victorious expeditions through European waters ; and 
he draws inspiration from those beautiful and poet- 
ical ancient myths and stories about Odin, Thor, 
Baldur, Loke, the Giant Ymer, Ragnarokr, Ygg- 
drasil, and that innumerable host of godlike heroes 
that illuminate the pages of his people's ancient 
histoiy, and glitter like brilliant diamonds in the 
dust and darkness of bygone ages. 

The subject to which your attention is invited, 



AMERICA NOT T)ISCC>VERED BY COLUMBUS. 11 

the discover]) of America^ is, if j^i'operly presented, 
of equal interest tc> Americans and Norsemen. For 
tliose who are born and brought up on the fertile 
soil of Columbia, under the shady l.)ranches of the 
noble tree of American lilierty, where the banner 
of progress and education is unfurled to the breeze, 
must naturally feel a deep interest in whateyer 
facts may be presented in relation to the first dis- 
covery and early settlement of this their native land; 
while those who first saw the sunlight beaming 
among the rugged, snow-capped mountains of old 
Xorway, and can still feel any of the heroic blood of 
theii* dauntless forefathers course its Avay through 
their veins, must, as a matter of course, feel an equally 
deep interest in learning that their own ancestors, 
the intrepid Norsemen, were the first pale-faced 
men who planted their feet on this gem of the 
ocean, and an interest too, T dare say, in having 
the claims of their native country to this honor vin- 
dicated. 

Tlie subject is not without special interest to 
the Germans, as it will appear in the course of this 
sketch that a German, who accompanied the Norse- 



12 AMERICA NOT DISCOVEEED BT COLUMBUS. 

men on their lirst expedition to this Western World, 
is intimately connected with the first name of this 
comitry; and there is no doubt that a German, 
through his writings about the Norsemen, was the 
means of bringing to Columbus valuable information 
about America. 

The Welsh also have an interest in this subject; 
for it is generally believed, and not without reason, 
that their ancestors, under the leadership of Madoc, 
made a settlement in this country about the year 
1170; thus, although they w^ere 170 years later 
than the Norsemen in making the discovery, they 
were still 322 years ahead of Columbus, and Norse- 
men, therefore, claim in this question, Welshmen's 
sympathies against Columbus. 

We might enlist the interest of Irishmen, too, in 
the presentation of this subject ; for in the year 
1029 (according to an account in the Eykbyggja 
Saga, chapter 64), a Norse navigator, by name 
GuDLEiF GuDLAUGSON, uudertook a voyage to Dub- 
lin, and on leaving Ireland again he intended to 
sail to Iceland ; but he met with northeast winds 
and was driven far to the west and southwest in 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 13 

the sea, where no land was to be seen. It was 
ah-eady late in the snnimer, and Gudleif with his 
party made many prayers that they might escape 
from the sea. And it came to pass, says the Saga, 
that they saw land, but they knew not what land 
it was. Then they resolved to sail to the land, for 
they were weary with contending longer with the 
violence of the sea. They found there a good 
harbor, and when they had been a short time on 
shore, there came some people to them. They 
knew none of the people, but it ''^ Toiher ajppeared 
to them that they sj^olce Irish.''^ 

This portion of America, supposed to be situated 
south of the Chesapeake Bay, including North and 
South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, is in 
the Saga of Thorfin Karlsefne, chapter 13, called 
" Irland edh MyMa^'^ that is. Great Ireland. It 
is claimed that the name. Great Ireland^ arose from 
the fact that the country had been colonized, long 
before Gudlaugson^ s visit, by the Irish, and that, 
they coming from their own green island to a vast 
continent possessing many of the fertile qualities of 
their own native soil, the appellation was natural 



14 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

and appropriate. There is nothing improbable in 
this conchision ; for the Irish, who visited and 
inhabited Iceland toward the close of the eighth 
century, to accomplish which they had to traverse 
a stormy ocean to the extent of eight hundred miles 
— who, as early as 725, were found upon the Faroe 
Isles — and whose voyages between Ireland and Ice- 
land, in the tenth century, were of ordinary occur- 
rence — a people so familiar Avith the sea were 
certainly capable of making a voyage across the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

I cannot here enter upon any further discussion 
of the claims of the Irish, but you observe that 
this subject of discovering America cannot be treated 
exhaustively without bringing back to the mind 
fond recollections of the Emerald Isle, wdiich was 
once the School of Western Europe, and her brave 
sons 

" Inclyta gens hominum, milite, pace, lide," 

as Bishop Donatus somewhere has it. 



CHAPTER II. 



NORSE LITERATURE HAS BEEN NEGLECTED BY THE 
LEARNED MEN OF THE GREAT NATIONS. 

"Tj^ NLIGHTEJS^ED men all over the world are 
* "^ watching, with astonishment and admiration, 
the New World, from which great revolutions have 
proceeded, and in which great problems in human 
government, human progress and enterprise, are yet 
to be worked out and demonstrated. 

People are everywhere eagerly observing every 
event that takes place in America, making it the 
subject of the most careful scrutiny, and the results, 
wonderful as they are, everywhere awaken the most 
intense interest. If you travel in England, in Ger- 
many, in Norway, or in any of the North-European 
coimtries, it is interesting to observe how familiar 
the common people are with matters and things per- 
taining to^ America. They not only know America 
better than they know their border countries, but 



16 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

there also are found not a few who keep themselves 
better posted on the affairs of America than on 
those of their own country. 

Until recently it has generally been supposed 
that America was wholly unknown to European 
nations previous to the time of Columbus, but 
investigations by learned men have made it cer- 
tain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the 
Europeans did have knowledge of this country 
long before the time of Columbus, and it has even 
been claimed, on quite plausible grounds, that some 
of the nations living here at the time of Columbus' 
discovery of this continent were descendants of 
Europeans. 

As yet but few scholars have turned their atten- 
tion to the North of Europe in relation to this 
subject, and hence the light which this extreme 
portion of the globe could give has hitherto been, 
in a great measure, neglected by the learned men 
of the great nations; and yet the antiquities of the 
North furnish a series of incontestable evidence that 
the coast of North America was discovered in the 
latter part of the tenth century, immediately after 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. lY 

the discovery of Greenland by the IS'orsemen ; fur- 
thermore, that this same coast was visited repeatedly 
by the J^orsemen in the eleventh century; further- 
more, that it was visited by them in the twelfth 
century; nay, also, that it was found again by them 
in the thirteenth century, and revisited in the four- 
teenth century. But even this is not all. These 
IN^orthern antiquities also show that Christianity had 
been introduced in America not only among the 
IS'orsemen, who formed a settlement here, but also 
among the aborigines, or native population, that the 
IS'orsemen found here. 

The learned men of the IN'orth are not to blame 
that this matter has not previously received due 
attention, for Torf^us published an account thereof 
as early as the year 1705, and besides him Suhm 
and ScHGENiNG and Laoerbring and Wormsk.jold 
and ScHRCEDER, to say nothing of many others, 
have all presented the main facts in their historical 
works. But other nations paid no attention to all 
this. I^ot until 1837, when the celebrated Pro- 
fessor Eafn, through the laudable enterprise of the 
Koyal Society of IN'orthern Antiquities, published 



18 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

his learned, interesting and important work,^ could 
scholars outside of Scandinavia be induced to examine 
the claims of the Norsemen. " Professor Rafn suc- 
ceeded, and he has perhaps done more than any 
other one man to call the attention of other nations 
to the importance of studying the Old Norse lite- 
rature. Thus it is that scholars of other nations 
recently have begun to direct their attention to 
Northern Antiquities, Northern Languages and His- 
tory. Germany and England, and' I would like to 
add America, are now beginning to realize how 
much valuable material is to be found in these 
sources for elucidating the history and institutions 
of other contemporary nations ; and especially do 
the early Sagas of the North throw much important 
light on the character of English and German insti- 
tutions during the middle ages. The English and 
Germans are translating the Sagas as fast as they 
can. Professors Konrad Maurer and Th. Moebius 
are doing excellent work at their respective Univer- 
sities in Germany ; Oxford and Cambridge in Eng- 
land have each an Icelandic Professor, and three 

* Antiquitates Americanje, Hafnise, 18.31. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 19 

American Universities* give instruction in the 
Northern languages. 

It is indeed an encouraging fact that these great 
nations are gradually becoming conscious of the 
importance of studying the Northern languages and 
literature, and we may safely hope that the time is 
not far distant when the Norsemen will be recog- 
nized in their right social, political, and literary 
character, and at the same time as navigators assume 
their true position in the pre-Columbian discovery 
of America.f 

* CoKNELL University in New York, and the Michigan and Wisconsin 
Universities. 

t A step toward the vindication of the claims of the Norsemen 
to the honor of having discovered, settled, and made America known 
to the world, has been made, and a movement has heen inaugurated 
for the erection of a monument in memory of the Norse navigator, Leip 
Erikson, who visited and explored America in the year 1000, nearly 
five centuries before Columbus. For the realization of this object Ole 
Bull has contributed his eminent services. He has already given several 
concerts, both in this coimtry and in Norway, the proceeds of which go 
to the monument fund. Ole Bull is President, Senator John A. John- 
son, Treasurer, and the writer of these pages Secretary, of the monument 
committee. Norway's famous poet and orator, Bjornstjerne Bjornson 
(see Appendix), has promised to write, for the dedication of the monu- 
ment, a cantata, to which the eminent Norse composer, Edward Grieg, 
will write the music. Bjornson has also promised to come to America 
in person and deliver the dedication oration. 



CHAPTER III. 



ANTIQUITY OF AMERICA. 

"T) EFOKE the plains of Europe rose above the 
-^-^ primeval seas, the continent of America, 
according to Louis Agassiz, emerged from the watery 
waste that encircled the whole globe and became 
the scene of animal life. Hence the so-called New 
World is in reality the Old, and Agassiz gives 
abundant proof of its hoary age. 

But who is able even to conjecture at what 
period it became the abode of man? Down to the 
close of the tenth century its written history is 
vague and uncertain. We can find traces of a rude 
civilization that suggest a very high antiquity. We 
can show mounds, monuments, and inscriptions, that 
point to periods, the contemplation of which would 
make Chronos himself grow giddy; yet among all 
these great and often impressive memorials there 
is no monument, mound, or inscription that solves 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 21 

satisfactorily the mystery of their origin. There are 
but few traditions even to aid us in our researches, 
and we can only infer that age after age nations 
and tribes have continued to rise into greatness 
and then fall and decline, and that barbarism and 
a rude culture have held alternate sway.^ 

* Compare De Costa, page 11. 



CHAPTER lY. 



PHENICIAN, GREEK, IRISH AND WELSH CLAIMS. 

nrX early times the Atlantic Ocean, like all other 
-*- things without known bounds, was viewed by 
man with mixed feelings of fear and awe. It was 
usually called the Sea of Darkness. 

Both Phenician and Tyrian voyages to the 
Western Continent, in early times, have been warmly 
advocated ; and it is more than probable that the 
original inhabitants of the American continent 
crossed the Atlantic instead of piercing the icy 
regions of the north and coming by the way of 
Behring's Strait. From the Canaries, which were 
discovered and colonized by the Phenicians, it is a 
short voyage to America, and the bold sailors of 
the Mediterranean, after touching at these islands, 
could easily and safely be wafted to the western 
shore. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 23 

That the Greek philosopher, Pytheas, whose 
discoveries about the different length of the days 
in various climates appeared so astonishing to the 
other philosophers of his age, traversed the Atlantic 
Ocean about 340 years before Christ, can scarcely 
be doubted. He certainly discovered Thule"^ (Ice- 
land), and determined its latitude, and we may at 
least say, that by this discovery he opened the way 
to America for the Norsemen. 

Claims have been made, as I have already shown, 
both by the Irish and by the Welsh, that they 
crossed the Atlantic and found America before 
Columbus, but it is not my purpose to comment 
upon these claims in this short sketch. Much' 
learned discussion has been devoted to the subject, 
but the early history of the American continent is 
still, to a great extent, veiled in mystery, and not 
until near the close of the tenth century of the 
present era can we point, with absolute certainty, 
to a genuine trans- Atlantic voyage. 

* See Strabo's Geography, Book II, § (i. 



CHAPTER V. 



WHO WERE THE NORSEMEN? 

r I ^IIE first voyage to America, of which we have 
-^ any perfectly reliable account, was performed 
by the J^oesemen. 

But who were the Norsemen? Permit me to 
answer this question briefly. 

The Norsemen were the descendants of a branch 
of the Gothic race that, in early times, emigrated 
from Asia and traveled westward and northward, 
finally settling down in what is now the west cen- 
tral part of the kingdom of Norway. Their lan- 
guage was the Old Norse, which is still preserved 
and spoken in Iceland, and upon it are founded the 
modern Norse, Danish, and Swedish languages. 

The ancient Norsemen were a bold and inde- 
pendent people. They were a free people. Their 
rulers were elected by the people in convention 
assembled, and all public matters of importance 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 25 

were decided in the assemblies, or open parlia- 
ments of the people. 

Abroad tbey became the most daring adven- 
turers. They made themselves known in every 
part of the civilized world by their daring as sol- 
diers and navigators. They spread themselves along 
the shores of Europe, making conquests and plant- 
ing colonies. 

In their conquering expeditions they subdued a 
large portion of England, wrested IS'ormandy, the 
fairest province of France, from the French king, 
conquered a considerable portion of Belgium, and 
made extensive inroads into Spain. Under Eobert 
Guiscard they made themselves masters of Sicily 
and lower Italy in the eleventh century, and main- 
tained their power there for a long time. During 
the Crusades they led the van of the chivalry of 
Europe in rescuing the Holy Sepulchre, and ruled 
over Antioch and Tiberias under Harald. They 
passed between the pillars of Hercules, they deso- 
lated the classic fields of Greece and penetrated the 
walls of Constantinople. 

Straying away into the distant east, from where 



26 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

thej originally came, we lind them laying the 
foundations of the Russian Empire, swinging their 
two-edged battle-axes in the streets of Constantino- 
ple, where they served as the leaders of the Greek 
Emperor's body-guard, and the main support of his 
tottering throne. They carved their mystic runes 
upon the marble lion^ in the harbor of Athens 
in commemoration of their conquest of this city. 
The old Norse Yikings sailed up the rivers Rhine, 
Schelde, the Seine and Loire, conquering Cologne 
and Aachen, where they turned the emperor's palace 
into a stable, filling the heart of even the great 
Charlemagne with dismay. 

The rulers of England are descendants of the 
JN^orsemen. Ganger Rolf, known in English history 
by the name Rollo, a son of Harald Haarfagr's 
friend, Ragnwald Moerejarl, invaded France in the 
year 912 and took possession of N'ormandy; and in 
1066, at the battle of Hastings, William the Con- 
queror, a great-grandson of Ganger Rolf, conquered 
England; and it is proper to add, that from this 

* The marble lion upon which they carved their runes was afterwards 
taken to Venice and erected at the entrance of the arsenal, where it may 
be seen at the present time. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 27 

conquest the pride and glory of Great Britain 
descended. 

It is also a noticeable fact, that the most serious 
opposition that William the Conqueror met with 
came from colonists of his own race, who had set- 
tled in IS'orthumbria. He wasted their lands with 
fire and sword, and drove them beyond the border; 
but still we find their energy, their perseverance 
and their speech existing in the north English and 
lowland Scotch dialects. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ICELAND. 



IT) UT Europe did not set bounds to the voyages 
-"-^ and enterprises of the Norsemen. In the year 
860 they discovered Iceland, and soon afterwards 
established upon this island a republic, which flour- 
ished four hundred years. The Icelandic republic 
furnishes the very best evidence of the independent 
spirit which characterized the Norsemen. 

Political circumstances in Norway urged many 
of the boldest and most independent people in the 
country to seek an asylum of freedom. Hakald 
Haakfagr {i. e. the Fair-haired) had determined to 
make himself monarch of all Norway. He was 
instigated to unite Norway under his scepter by 
the ambition of the fair and proud Pagna Adils- 
DATTER (daughter), whom he loved and courted ; 
but she declared that the man she married would 
have to be king of all Norway. Harald accepted 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 29 

the conditions ; and after twelve years' hard fight- 
ing, during which time he neither cut nor combed 
his hair once,^ in the year 872, at the battle of 
Hafrsfjord, Norway became united into one king- 
dom, instead of being divided into thirty-one small 
republics, as had been the case before that time. 

Harald had subdued or slain the numerous lead- 
ers, and had passed a law abolishing all freehold 
tenure of property,t usurping it for the crown. To 
this the proud freemen of Norway would not sub- 
mit. Disdaining to yield their ancient independ- 
ence and be degraded, they resolved to leave those 
lands and homes, which they could now scarcely 
call their own, and set out with their families and 
followers in quest of new seats. There were as 
great emigrations from Norway in those days as 
there are now. The Norse spirit of enterprise is 
as old as their history. 

Whither then should they go, was the question. 

* He made a pledge to Ragna that he would neither cut nor comb his 
hair until he had subjugated all Norway. 

t This so-called udal, [Icel. odal, Norse odel, allodium,] i. e. independent 
tenure of property, was given back to the Norsemen by King Hakon the 
Good in the year 935, and has never since been taken away from them. 



30 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

Some went to the Hebrides, otliei'S to the Ork- 
ney isles; some to the Shetland and Faroe isles; 
many went as Yikings to England, Scotland and 
France ; but by far the greater number went to the 
more distant and therefore more secure Iceland, 
'which had been discovered by the celebrated Norse 
Yiking J^addodd in 860, and called by him Snow- 
land ; rediscovered by Gardar, of Swedish extrac- 
tion in 864, after whom it was called Gardar's 
Holm (island), and visited by two l^orsemen, Ingolfr 
and Leif (Hjoerleifr) in 870, by whom it was called 
Iceland. This emigration from Norway to Iceland 
began in the year 874, a thousand years ago this 
summer; and thus this strange island was peopled 
— and in a few years peopled to a surprising ex- 
tent. It was not long before it had upwards of 
50,000 inhabitants. You must bear in mind that 
this colonization was on an island in the cold North 
Sea, a little below the Arctic Circle. It was in a 
climate where grain refused to ripen, and where the 
people often w^ere obliged to shake the snow off 
the frozen hay before they could carry it. Fishing, 
the main support of the people, was often obstructed 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 31 

by ice from the polar regions filling their harbors, 
and the whole island presented a most melancholy 
aspect of desolation. But still the people continued 
to flock thither and become attached to the soil. 
They were surrounded the whole year by dreary 
ice-mountains, the glare of volcanic flames, and the 
roaring of geysers or boiling springs. Still they 
loved this wild country, because they were free, 
and through the long winters, when the sun nearly 
or entirely disappeared from above the horizon, and 
nothing but northern lights flickered over their 
heads, they seemed only the more thrown upon 
their intellectual resources, and passed the time in 
reciting the Eddas and Sagas of their ancestors. 

Perhaps I ought to beg your pardon for dwell- 
ing so long upon the subject of Iceland ; but my 
apology is that, in the flrst place, Iceland is of itself 
an exceedingly interesting country ; and, in the next 
place, it is really the hinge upon lohich the door 
swings which opened America to Europe. This 
island had been visited by Pytheas 340 years before 
Christ; and, according to the Irish monk Dicuilus, 
who wrote a geography in the year 825, it had 



32 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

been visited by some Irish priests in the summer of 
795."^ It was the settlement of Iceland bj the 
I^orsemen, and the constant voyages between this 
island and Korway, that led to the discovery, first 
of Greenland and then of America; and it is due 
to the high intellectual standing and fine historical 
taste of the Icelanders that records of these voyages 
were kept, first to instruct Columbus how to find 
America, and afterwards to solve for us the myste- 
ries concerning the discovery of this continent. 

Iceland is a small island, in the 65th deg. north 
latitude, of al)out 1,800 geographical square miles. 
Its valleys are almost without verdure, and its mount- 
ains without trees. Still, it contains, even at the 
present time, no less than 70,000 inhabitants, who 
live a peaceable and contented life, still clinging to 
their ancient language, and studying foreign lan- 
guages, science, philosophy, and history, as we do 
who live in milder and more favored climes. Now, 
as in olden times, the earth trembles in the throes 
of the earthquake, — the geysers still spout their 
scalding water, and the plain belches forth mud, — 

* Vid. Dicuilus, De Mensura Orbis Terrse, ed. Latronne, page 38. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 33 

while the grand old jokiil,^ Mount Hekla, clad in 
white robes of eternal snow, brandishes aloft its 
volcanic torch, as if threatening to set the very 
heavens on fire. 

For ages Iceland was destined to become the 
sanctuary and preserver of the grand old literature 
of the IS'orth. Paganism prevailed there more than 
a century after the island became inhabited ; the 
old traditions were cherished and committed to 
memory, and shortly after the introduction of Chris- 
tianity the Old Norse literature was put in writing. 

The ancient literature and traditions of Iceland 
excel anything of their kind in Europe during the 
middle ages. The Icelandic poems have no paral- 
lel in all the treasures of ancient literature. There 
are gigantic proportions about them, and great and 
overwhelming tragedies in them, which rival those 
of Greece. The early literature of Iceland, is now 
fast becoming recognized as equal to that of ancient 
Greece and Rome. 

The original Teutonic life lived longer and more 
independently in Norway, and especially in Iceland, 

* Mountains covered with perpetual snow are called " jokals " in Iceland, 
3 



34 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

than elsewhere, and had more favorable opportuni- 
ties to grow and mature ; and the Icelandic literature 
is the full-blown flower of the Teutonic heathen- 
dom. This Teutonic heathendom, with its beauti- 
ful and poetical mythology, was rooted out by 
superstitious priests in Germany, and the other 
countries inhabited by Teutonic peoples, before it 
had developed sufficiently to produce blossoms, ex- 
cepting in England, where a kindred branch of the 
Gothic race rose to eminence in letters, and pro- 
duced the Anglo-Saxon literature. 



CHAPTEK YII. 



GREENLAND. 

1) UT, as time passed on, the people of Iceland 
-*— ^ felt a new impulse for colonizing new and 
strange lands, and the tide of emigration began to 
tend with irresistible force toward Greenland, in 
the west, which country also became settled in spite 
of its wretched climate. 

The discovery of Greenland was a natural con- 
sequence of the settlement of Iceland, just as the 
discovery of America afterwards was a natural con- 
sequence of the settlement of Greenland. Between 
the western part of Iceland and the eastern part of 
Greenland there is a distance of only forty-five 
geographical miles. Hence, some of the ships that 
sailed to Iceland, at the time of the settlement of 
this island and later, could in case of a violent east 
wind, which is no rare occurrence in those regions, 
scarcely avoid approaching the coast of Greenland 



36 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

sufficiently to catch a glimpse of its jokuls, — nay, 
even to land on its islands and promontories. Thus 
it is said that Gunnbjorn, Ulf Krage's son, saw land 
lying in the ocean at the west of Iceland, when, in 
the year 876, he was driven out to the sea by a 
storm. Similar reports were heard, from time to 
time, by other mariners. About a century later a 
certain man, by name Erik the Red, had fled from 
Jaedern, in IS^orway, on account of manslaughter, 
and had settled in the western part of Iceland. 
Here he also was outlawed for manslaughter, by 
the public assembly, and condemned to banishment. 
He therefore fitted out his ship, and resolved to 
go in search of the land in the west that Gunnbjorn 
and others had seen. He set sail in the year 984, 
and found the land as he had expected, and re- 
mained there exploring the country for two years. 
At the end of this period he returned to , Iceland, 
giving the newly-discovered country the name of 
Greenland, in order, as he said, to attract settlers, 
who would be favorably impressed with so pleasing 
a name. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 37 

The result was that many Icelanders and Norse- 
men emigrated to Greenland, and a flourishing 
colony was established, with Gardar for its capi- 
tal city, which, in the year 1261, became subject 
to the crown of Norway. The Greenland colony 
maintained its connection with the mother countries 
for a period of no- less than 400 years; yet it finally 
disappeared, and was almost forgotten. Torfseus 
gives a list of seventeen bishops who ruled in 
Greenland. 



CHAPTER YIII. 



THE SHIPS OF THE NORSEMEN. 

"T3EF0KE following the Norsemen further on 
-*— ^ their westward course, it may not be out of 

place to say a few words about their ships. Hav- 
ing crossed the briny deep four times myself I 
have seen something of what is required in order 
to venture with safety on so long watery journeys. 
I have also seen one of the old E"orse Yiking ships, 
which is preserved at the University of Norway, 
and it seemed to me an excellent one both in 
respect to form and size. Now, I do not mean to 
say that the old Norsemen possessed such ocean 
crafts as now plow the deep between New York 
and Liverpool ; but what I mean to say is this, 
that the Norsemen were then, as they are now, very 
excellent navigators. They had good sea-going ves- 
sels, some of which were of large size. We have 
an account, in Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, of one that 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 39 

was in many respects remarkable. That part of the 
keel which rested on the ground was 140 feet long. 
None but the choicest material was used in its con- 
struction. It contained thirtj-four rowing-benches, 
and its stem and stern were overlaid with gold.* 
Their vessels would compare favorably with those 
of other nations, which have been used in later 
times in expeditions around the world, and were 
in every way adapted for an ocean voyage. They 
certainly were as well fitted to cross the Atlantic 
as were the ships of Columbus. From the Sagas 
we also learn that the Norsemen fully understood 
the importance of cultivating the study of naviga- 
tion ; they knew how to calculate the course of 
the sun and moon, and how to measure time by 
the stars. Without a high degree of nautical knowl- 
edge they could never have accomplished their voy- 

* This ship of Olaf Tryggvason was called the Long Serpent, and 
was built by the ship-carpenter Thorberg, who is celebrated in the annals 
of the North for his ship-building. The Earl Hakon had a dragon contain- 
ing forty rowing-benches. King Canute had one containing sixty, and 
King Olaf, the saint, possessed two ships capable of carrying two hun- 
dred men each. The Norse dragons glided on the waters as gracefully 
as ducks or swans, of which they also had the form. Compare also 
"Saga Frithjofs ens Fraekna," chapter 1, where his good ship Ellida is 
described. 



40 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

ages to England, France, Spain, Sicily, Greece, and 
those still more difficult voyages to Iceland and 
Greenland. 

I have now given a brief historical sketch of the 
voyages and enterprises of the Norsemen. I have 
done this to show that they were capable of the 
exploit of discovering America — nay, that it was in 
fact an unavoidable result of their constant seafaring 
life; so that even if we did not have the unmis- 
takable language of the Sagas, we might still be 
able to assert, with a considerable degree of cer- 
tainty, that the Norsemen must have been aware 
of the existence of the American continent. Yes, 
the Norsemen were truly a great people ! Their 
spirit found its way into the Magna Charta* of 
England and into the Declaration of Independence 
in America. The spirit of the Yikings still survives 
in the bosoms of Englishmen, Americans and Norse- 
men, extending their commerce, taking bold posi- 
tions against tyranny, and producing wonderful 
internal improvements in these countries. 

* Compare William and Mary Howitt. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE SAGAS AND DOCUMENTS ARE GENUINE. 

^"TTE have now seen that the Norsemen made 
^ ^ themselves known in every part of the 
civilized world; that they had excellent ships, that 
they were well trained seamen, and a highly civ- 
ilized nation, possessing in fact all the means 
necessary for reaching the continent in the west ; 
and we are thus prepared for the vital question, 
Did the Norsemen actually discover and explore 
the coast of the country now known as America? 
There is certainly no improbability in the idea. 
Open an atlas at the map of the Atlantic Ocean, 
or at the maps of the two hemispheres. Observe 
the distance between Norway and Iceland, and the 
distances between Iceland and Greenland, and Green- 
land and Newfoundland. You perceive it is more 
than twice the distance between Norway and Ice- 
land that it is between Iceland and Greenland, and 



42 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

not far from twice the distance that it is between 
Greenland and Labrador, and thence on to ISTew- 
foundland. Now, after conceding the fact that 
JS'orse colonies existed in Greenland for at least 
three hundred years, which every student of Norse 
history knows to be a fact, we must prepare our- 
selves for the proposition that America was dis- 
covered by the Norsemen. It would be alto- 
gether unreasonable to suppose that a seafaring 
people like the Norsemen, who traversed the 
broad western ocean to reach Iceland and Green- 
land, could live for three centuries within a short 
voyage of this vast continent and never become 
aware of its existence. 

But fortunately on this point we are not left to 
conjecture. We have a complete written record of 
the discovery. Intelligent men must first succeed 
in blotting out innumerable pages of well authen- 
ticated history, before they undertake to deny or 
dispute the facts of this discovery. While literary 
darkness overspread the whole of the European 
continent for many centuries following the tenth, 
letters were highly cultivated in Iceland ; and this 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 4:3 

is the very time and countrj in which the Sagas 
containing a record of the discovery of America 
originated. That they were written long before 
Columbus, is as easy to demonstrate as the fact 
that Herodotus wrote his history before the era of 
Christ, The authenticity and authority of the Ice- 
landic Sagas has been fully acknowledged by Alex- 
ander VON Humboldt in his Cosmos," by Malte- 
BRUN,t and many other distinguished scholars ; and 
therefore a further discussion is at this time un- 
necessary on this point. 

* Cosmos, Vol. n., pages 269-272, where Alexander von Humboldt, 
discussing the pre-Columbian discovery of America by the Norsemen, 
says : " We are here on historical ground. By the critical and highly 
praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafn and the Royal Society of Northern 
Antiquaries in Copenhagen, the Sagas and documents in regard to the 
expeditions of the Norsemen to Helluland (Newfoundland), to Markland 
(the mouth of the St. Lawrence river and Nova Scotia), and to Vinland 
(Massachusetts) have been published and satisfactorily commented upon. 
* * * The discovery of the northern part of America by the Norsemen 
cannot be disputed. The length of the voyage, the direction in which 
they sailed, the time of the sun's rising and setting, are accurately given. 
While the Chalifat of Bagdad was still flourishing under the Abbaeides, 
and while the rule of the Samanides, so favorable to poetry, still flour- 
ished in Persia, America was discovered, about the year 1000, by Leif, 
son of Erik the Red, at about 41 14° N. L." 

t Vid. Nouvelles annales des voyages, de la geographie, de Thistoire 
et de I'archeologie, redigees par M. V.-A. Malte-Brun, secretaire de la 
commission centrale de la societe de geographie de Paris, member de 
plusieurs sociotOs savantes. Aout, 1858, pag. 253. 



44 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

The manuscripts, in which we have the Sagas 
relating to America are found in the celebrated 
Codex Flatoeensis, a skin-book that was finished in 
the year 1387. This work, written with great care 
and executed in the highest style of art, is now 
preserved in its integrity in the archives of Copen- 
hagen, and a carefully printed copy* of it is to be 
found in Mimer's library at the University of Wis- 
consin. "We gather from this work, that the l^oi'se- 
men, after discovering and settling Greenland, and 
then keeping a bold southwestern course, discovered 
America more than 500 years before Columbus; and 
I shall in the following chapters present some of 
the main circumstances of this discovery. 

* Flateyarbok, Christiania (Norway), 1860-1868. 



CHAPTER X. 



BJARNE HERJULFSON, 986. 

~T~K the year 986, the same year that lie returned 
--*- from Greenland, the above-named Erik the 
Ked moved from Iceland to Greenland, and among 
his numerous friends, who accompanied him, was 
an Icelander by name Herjulf. 

Herjulf had a son by name Bjarne, who was a 
man of enterprise and fond of going abroad, and 
who possessed a merchant-ship, with which he gath- 
ered wealth and reputation. He used to be by 
turns a year abroad and a year at home with his 
father. He chanced to be away in Norway when 
his father moved over to Greenland, and on return- 
ing to Iceland he was so much disappointed on 
hearing of his father's departure with Erik, that 
he would not unload his ship, but resolved to 
follow his old custom and take up his abode with 
his father. "Who will go with me to Greenland?" 



46 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

said he to his men. " We will all go' with you," 
replied the men. " But we have none of ns ever 
been on the Greenland Sea before," said Bjarne. 
"We mind not that," said the men, — so away they 
sailed for three days and lost sight of Iceland. 
Then the wind failed. After that a north wind 
and fog set in, and they knew not w^here they were 
sailing to. This lasted many days, until the sun 
at length appeared again, so that they could deter- 
mine the quarters of the sky, and lo ! in the horizon 
they saw, like a blue cloud, the outlines of an im- 
known land. They approached it. They saw that 
it was without mountains, was covered with wood, 
and that there were small hills inland. Bjarne 
saw that this did not answer to the description of 
Greenland ; he knew he was too far south ; so he 
left the land on the larboard side and sailed north- 
ward two days, when they got sight of land again. 
The men asked Bjarne if this was Greenland; but 
he said it was not, " For in Greenland," he said, 
"there are great snowy mountains; but this land 
is flat and covered with trees." They did not go 
ashore, but turning the bow from the land, they 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS . 47 

kept the sea with a fine breeze from the southwest 
for three days, when a third land was seen. Still 
Bjarne would not go ashore, for it was not like 
what had been reported of Greenland. So they 
sailed on, driven by a violent southwest wind, and 
after four days they reached a land which suited the 
description of Greenland. Bjarne w^as not deceived, 
for it was Greenland, and he happened to land 
close to the place where his father had settled. 

It cannot be determined with certainty what 
parts of the American coast Bjarne saw; but from 
the circumstances of the voyage, the course of the 
winds, the direction of the currents, and the pre- 
sumed distance between each sight of land, there is 
reason to believe that the first land that Bjarne saw 
in the year 986 was the present Nantucket, one 
degree south of Boston ; the second Nova Scotia, 
and the third Newfoundland. Thus Bjarne Her- 
JULFSON was the first Euroj>ean whose eyes beheld 
any part of the American continent. 



CHAPTER XI. 



LEIF ERIKSON, 1000. 

"^"TTHEN Bjarne visited Norway, a few years 
^ ' later, and told of liis adventure, he was 
censured in strong terms by Jarl (Earl) Erik and 
others, because he had manifested so little interest 
that he had not even gone ashore and explored 
these lands, and because he could give no more 
definite account of them. Still, what he did say 
was sufficient to arouse in the mind of Leif Erik- 
son, son of Erik the Red, a determination to solve 
the problem and find out what kind of lands these 
were that were talked so much about. He bought 
Bjarne' s ship from him, set sail with a good crew 
of thirty-five men, and found the lands just as 
Bjarne had described them, far away to the south- 
west of Greenland. They landed in Helluland 
(Newfoundland) and in Makkland (Nova Sco- 
tia\ explored these countries somewhat, gave them 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 49 

names, and proceeded from the latter into the open 
sea with a northeast wind, and were two days at 
sea before they saw land again. They sailed into a 
sound. It was very shallow at ebb-tide, so that 
their ship stood dry and there was a long way from 
their ship to the water. But so much did they 
desire to land that they did not give themselves 
time to wait until the water rose again under their 
ship, but ran at once on shore, at a place where a 
river flows out of a lake.* But as soon as the 
water rose up under the ship, they rowed out in 
their boats, floated the ship up the river and thence 
into the lake, where they cast anchor, brought their 
skin cots out of the ship, and raised their tents. 
After this they took counsel, and resolved to remain 
through the winter, and built a large house. There 
was no want of salmon, either in the river or in the 
lake, and larger salmon than they had before seen. 
The nature of the country was, as they thought, so 
good that cattle would not require house-feeding in 
winter. Day and night were more equal than in 

* This lake is Mount Hope Bay. The tourist, in traveling that way by 
rail, will at first take Mount Hope Bay for a lake. B. F. DeCosta, page 32. 

4 



50 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

Greenland or Iceland, for on the shortest day the sun 
was above the horizon from half-past seven in the 
forenoon till half-past four in the afternoon; which 
circumstance gives for the latitude of the place 41° 
24' 10" ; hence Leif 's booths are thought to have 
been situated at or near Fall E-iver, Massachusetts. 
Leif Erikson called the country Yinland, and the 
cause of this was the following interesting incident: 
There was a German in Leif Erikson's party by 
name Tyrker. He was a prisoner of war, but had 
become Leif s special favorite. He was missing one 
day after they came back from an exploring expe- 
dition. Leif Erikson became very anxious about 
Tyrker, and fearing that he might be killed by wild 
beasts or by Indians,"^ he went out with a few men 
to search for him. Toward evening he was found 
coming home, but in a very excited state of mind. 
The cause of his excitement was some fruit which 
he had found, and which he held up in his hands, 

* Our Norse colonists in Vinlancl had frequent intercourse with the 
natives, whom they called "Sknellinger.'" This name is derived from the 
verb "skrajla," which means to peel; hence ekraelling (peeling) alludes to 
their small and shriveled aspect. Compare also the adjective "skral," 
which means slim, lean. 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 61 

shouting : '' Weintrauben ! Weiiitrauben ! ! Weintrau- 
•ben ! ! ! " The sight and taste of this fruit, to which 
he had been accustomed in his own native land, 
had excited him to such an extent that he seemed 
drunk, and for some time he would do nothing 
but laugh, devour grapes and talk German, which 
language our Norse discoverers did not understand. 
At last he spoke Norse, and explained that he, to 
his great joy and surprise, had found vines and 
grapes in great abundance. From this circumstance 
the land got*the name of Yinland, and history got 
the interesting fact that a German was along with 
the daring argonauts of the Christian era. 

Here is then a short account of the first expedi- 
tion to America. It took place in the year 1000, 
and Leif Erikson was the first pale-faced man who 
planted his feet on the American continent. Give 
Leif Erikson a place in history ! 



CHAPTER XII. 



THORWALD ERIKSON, 1003. 

"ITN the spring, when the winds were favorable, 
-*- Leif Erikson returned to Greenland. The ex- 
pedition to Yinland was much talked of, and Thor- 
WALD, Leif's brother, thought that the land had 
been much too little explored. Then said Leif to 
Thorwald : '• You may go with my ship, brother, to 
Yinland, if you like." And so another expedition 
was fitted out, in the year 1002, by Thorwald Erik- 
son, who went to Yinland and remained there three 
years; but it cost him his life, for in a battle with 
the Skrsellings an arrow from one of the natives of 
America pierced his side, causing death. He was 
buried in Yinland, and two crosses were erected on 
his grave — one at his head and one at his feet. 
Hallowed ground this beneath whose sod rests the 
dust of the first Christian and the first European 
who died in America! His death and burial also 



AMEKICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 53 

gains interest in another respect, for in the year 

1831 there was found in the vicinity of Fall Kiver, 

Massachusetts, a skeleton in armor^ and many of 

the circumstances connected with it are so wonderful 

that it might indeed seem almost as though it were 

the skeleton of this very Thorwald Erikson ! This 

skeleton in armor attracted much attention at the 

time, was the subject of much learned discussion, 

and our celebrated poet Longfellow wrote, in the 

year 1841, a poem about it, beginning: 

" Speak ! speak ! thou fearful guest !" 

After which he makes the skeleton tell about his 

adventures as a viking, about the pine forests of 

Norway, about his voyage across the stormy deep, 

and about the discovery of America, concerning 

which he says: 

" Three weeks we westward bore, 
And when the storm was o'er, 
Cloudlike we saw the shore 

Stretching to leeward ; 
There for my lady's bower 
Built I the lofty tower,* 
Which to this very hour 

Stands looking seaward." 

*The tower here referred to is the famous Newport tower in Rhode 
Island, which undoubtedly was built by the Norsemen. 



54 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 



The following are the last two verses of the 



poem : 

" Still grew my bosom then, 
Still as a stagnant fen, 
Hateful to me were men, 

The sunlight hateful! 
In the vast forest here. 
Clad in my warlike gear, 
Fell I upon my spear. 

Oh, death was grateful ! 

" Thus seamed with many scars. 
Bursting these prison bars. 
Up to its native stars. 

My soul ascended. 
There from the flowing bowl 
Deep drinks the warrior's soul : 
Skaal ! to the Northland, skaal ! 
Thus the tale ended." 

The great Swedish chemist Berzelius analyzed* 
a part of the breastplate which w^as found on the 

*A bronze article found in Denmark, and dating with certainty back 
to the tenth century, was also analyzed, and the annexed table showa the 

result of the analysis : 

Breastplate Bronze Article 

frmn from 

America. Denmark. 

Copper 70.29 67.13 

Zinc 28.03 - 20.39 

Tin 0.91 9.24 

Lead 0.74 .- 3.39 

Iron 0.03. 0.11 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 55 

skeleton, and found that in composition it corre- 
sponded with metals used in the North during the 
tenth century ; and comparing the Fall River breast- 
plate with old northern armors, it was also found 
to correspond with these in style. 

When the Norsemen had buried their chief, 
Thorwald, they returned to Leifsbudir (Leif s booths), 
loaded their ships with the products of the land 
and returned to Greenland in the year 1005. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THORSTEIN ERIKSON, 1005. 

r I ^HEN the Sagas tell us that Thorstein, the 
-^ youngest son of Erik the Eed, was seized 
with a strong desire to pass over to Yinland to 
fetch the body of his brother Thorwald. He was 
married to Gudeid, a woman remarkable for her 
beauty, her dignity, her prudence, and her good 
discourse. Thorstein fitted out a vessel, manned 
it with twenty-five men selected for their strength 
and stature, besides himself and Gudrid. When 
all was ready they put out to sea, and were soon 
out of sight of land. Through the whole summer 
they were tossed about on the deep and were 
driven they knew not whither. Finally they made 
laud, which they found to be Lysefjord, on the 
western coast of Greenland. Here Thorstein and 
several of his men died, and Gudrid returned to 
Eriksljord. 



CHAPTER XIT. 



THORFINN KARLSEFNE AND GUDRID, 1007. 

THE most distinguished explorer of Yinland 
was Thorfinn Karlsefne. He was a wealthy 
and influential man. He was descended from the 
most famous families in the North. Several of his 
ancestors had been elected kings. In the fall of 
1006, he came from Norway to Eriksljord with 
two ships. Karlsefne made rich presents to Leif 
Erikson, and Leif offered the Norse navigator the 
hospitalities of Brattahlid during winter. After the 
Yule festival Thorfinn began to treat with Leif as 
to the marriage of Gudrid, Leif being the person 
to whom the right of betrothment belonged. Leif 
gave a favorable ear to his advances, and in the 
course of the winter their nuptials were celebrated 
with due ceremony. The conversation frequently 
turned at Brattahlid upon Yinland the" Good, many 
saying that an expedition thither held out fair 



58 AMERICA NOT DISCOYERED BY COLUMBUS. 

prospects of gain. The jesnlt was that Thorfinn, 
accompanied by his wife, who urged him to the 
undertaking, sailed to Yinland in the spring of 
1007, and remained there three years. The Sagas 
lay considerable stress upon the fact that Gudrid 
persuaded him to undertake this expedition. She 
also appears to have taken a prominent part in 
the whole enterprise. Imagine yourself way off* in 
Greenland. Imagine Gudrid and Thorfinn Karl- 
sefne taking a walk together on the sea-beach, and 
Gudrid talking to her husband in this wise : 

" I wonder that you, Thorfinn, with good ships 
and many stout men, and plenty of means, should 
choose to remain in this barren spot instead of 
searching out the famous Yinland and making a 
settlement there. Just think what a splendid 
country it must be, and what a desirable change 
for all of us. Thick and leafy woods like those 
of old E^orway, instead of these rugged cliffs and 
snow-clad hills. Fields of waving grass and rye 
instead of moss-covered rocks and sandy soil. Trees 
large enough to build houses and ships instead of 
willow bushes, that are fit for nothing except to 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 59 

save our cattle from starvation when the hay -crop 
runs out ; besides longer sunshine in winter, and 
more genial warmth all the year round, instead of 
howling winds and ice and snow. Truly I think 
this country has been wofully misnamed when they 
called it Greenland." 

You can easily imagine that Thorfinn was con- 
vinced by such persuasive arguments, and he resolved 
to follow his wife's advice. 

The expedition which now set out for Vinland 
was on a much larger scale than any of the expedi- 
tions that had preceded it. That Leif and Thorwald 
and Thorstein had not intended to make their per- 
manent abode in Yinland was plain, from the fact 
that they brought neither women nor flocks nor 
herds with them. Karlsefne, on the other hand, 
went forth fully equipped for colonization. The 
party consisted of one hundred and fifty-one men 
and seven women. A number of cattle and sheep 
were also carried on this occasion to Yinland. They 
all arrived there in safety, and remained, as has 
been stated, three years, when hostilities between 
them and the Skraellings compelled them to give 
up their colony. 



60 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

The Saga gives a very full account of Thorfinn's 
enterprises in Yinland ; about the traftic with the 
Skrsellings; about the development of the colony, 
etc. ; all of which I am compelled to omit in this 
sketch. I must call attention, however, to the inter- 
esting fact that a son was born to Thorfinn and 
Gudrid the year after they had established them- 
selves in their quarters at Straumfjord (Buzzard's 
Bay). His name was Snorre Thorfinnson. He 
was born in the present State of Massachusetts, in 
the year 1008, and he was the first man of Euro- 
pean blood of whose birth in America we have 
any record. From him the famous sculptor, Albert 
Thorwaldsen, is lineally descended, besides a long 
train of learned and distinguished men, who have 
flourished during the last eight centuries in Iceland 
and Denmark. 

In the next place, attention is invited to an 
inscription on a rock, situated on the right bank of 
the Taunton river, in Bristol county, Massachusetts. 
It is familiarly called the Dighton Writing Eock 
Inscription. It stands in the very region which 
the Norsemen frequented. It is written in char- 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 61 

acters which the natives have never used nor sculp- 
tured. This inscription was copied by Dr. Danforth 
as early as 1680, by Cotton Mather in 1712 ; it 
was copied by Dr. Greenwood in 1730. by Stephen 
Sewell in 1768, by James Winthrop in 1788, and 
has been copied at least four times in the present 
century. The rock was seen and talked of by the 
first settlers in New England, long before anything 
was said about the ISTorsemen discovering America 
before Columbus. 

ISTear the center of the inscription we read dis- 
tinctly, in Roman characters, 

CXXXI, 
which is 151,^ the exact number of Thorfinn's party. 
Then we find an N, a boat, and the Runic character 
for M, which may be interpreted "]S"(orse) seafaring 
M(en)." Besides we have the word NAM — took 
(took possession), and the whole of Thorfinn's name, 
with the exception of the first letter. Repeating 
these characters we have 

ORFIN, CXXXI, N ^^^ M, NAM, 



* The Icelanders reckoned twelve decades to the hundred, and called 
it stort hundrad (great hundred). 



62 AMERICA NOT DI8C0VEKED 'BY COLUMBUS. 

which has been interpreted by Prof! Kafn as fol- 
lows : " Thorfin, with one hundred and iiftj-one 
J^orse seafaring men took possession of this land 
(landnam)." 

In the lower left corner of the inscription is a 
figure of a woman and a child, near the latter of 
which is the letter S, reminding us most forcibly 
of Gudrid and her son, Snorre. Upon the whole 
the Dighton Writing Rock removes all doubt con- 
cerning the presence of Thorfinn Karlsefne and the 
Norsemen at Taunton river, in the beginning of the 
eleventh century. 



CHAPTER XY. 



OTHER EXPEDITIONS BY THE NORSEMEN. 

rr^HE Sagas give elaborate accounts of other 
--■- expeditions by the l^orsemen to Yinland. 
Thus there is one by Freydis in the year 1011; 
and in the year 1121 the Bishop Erik Upsi went 
as a missionary to Yinland. 

Then there are Sagas that give accounts of expe- 
ditions by Norsemen to Great Irland (North and 
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida), but I will 
omit these in the present sketch. 

The last expedition mentioned was in the year 
1347, but this was in the time of the Black Plague, 
which raged throughout Europe with unrelenting 
fury from 1347 to 1351, and also reached Iceland, 
Greenland and Yinland, and cut off communication 
between these countries. The Black Plague reduced 
the population of Norway alone from two millions 
to three hundred thousand, and this fact gives us 



64: AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

some idea of the terrible ravages of this fearful 
epidemic. It is evident that the Black Plague left 
no surplus population for expeditions to America 
or elsewhere. 



CHAPTER XYI. 



THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 

nr WILL now devote a few pages to pointing ont 
-^ some of the threads that connect this discovery 
of America by the Norsemen with the more recent 
and better-known discovery by Columbus. 

1. From a letter which Columbus himself wrote, 
and which we find quoted in Washington Irving's 
Golumhus,'^ we know positively that while the 
design of attempting the discovery in the west was 
maturing in the mind of Columbus, he made a 
voyage to the north of Europe, and visited Iceland. 
This was in February, 1477, and in his conversation 
with the Bishop and other learned men of Iceland, 
he must have been informed of the extraordinary 
fact, that their countrymen had discovered a great 
country beyond the western ocean, which seemed 
to extend southward to a great distance. This was 

* Vol. I, page 59. 



66 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

a circumstance not likely to rest quietly in the 
active and speculative mind of the great geographer 
and navigator. The reader will observe that, when 
Columbus was in Iceland, in the year 1477, fifteen 
years before he discovered America, only one hun- 
dred and thirty years had elapsed since the last 
Norse expedition to Yinland. There were undoubt- 
edly people still living w^hose grandfathers had 
crossed the Atlantic, and it would be altogether 
unreasonable to suppose that he, who was constantly 
studying and talking about geography and naviga- 
tion, possibly could visit Iceland and not hear any- 
thing of the land in the west. 

2. Gudrid, the wife of Thorfinn and mother of 
Snorre, made a pilgrimage to Rome after the death 
of her husband. It is related that she was well 
received, and she certainly must have talked there 
of her ever memorable trans-oceanic voyage to Yin- 
land, and her three years' residence there. Rome 
paid much attention to geographical discoveries, and 
took pains to collect all new charts and reports 
that were brought there. Every new discovery 
was an aggrandizement of the papal dominion, a 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 67 

new field for the preaching of the Gospel. The 
Romans might have heard of Yinland before, but 
she brought personal evidence. 

3. That Yinland was known at the Yatican is 
clearly proved by the fact that the Pope Paschal II, 
in the year 1112, appointed Erik Upsi, Bishop of 
Iceland, Greenland and Yinland, and Erik Upsi 
went personally to Yinland in the year 1121. 

4. Pecent developments in relation to Columbus 
tend to prove that he had opportunity to see a 
map of Yinland, procured from the Yatican for the 
Pinzons, and it would indeed astonish us more to 
learn that he, with his nautical knowledge, did not 
hear of America than that he did. We must also 
bear in mind that Columbus lived in an age of 
discovery; England, France, Portugal and Spain 
were vying with each other in discovering new 
lands and extending their territories. 

5. But in addition to the Sagas, the Dighton 
Writing Pock, the Newport Tower (which the 
Indians told the early New England settlers was 
built by the giants, and the Norse discoverers cer- 
tainly looked like giants to the Indians, since the 



68 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

former called the latter Skrsellings), and in addition 
to the SKELETON IN ARMOR, we have a remarkable 
record of the early discovery of America by the 
Norsemen in the writings of Adam of Bremen, a 
canon and historian of high authority, who died in 
the year 1076. He visited the Danish king Svend 
Esthridson, a nephew of Canute the Great, and on 
his return home he wrote a book " On the Propa- 
gation of the Christian Religion in the North of 
Euro])e^^ and at the end of this book he added a 
geographical treatise " On the Position of Denmarh 
and other regions heyond Denmarhr Having given 
an account of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland 
and Greenland, he says that, '^lesides these there is 
still another region^ which has heen visited hy many^ 
lying in that ocean {the Atlantic)^ tvhich is called 
YiNLAND, because vines grovj there spontaneously, 
producing very good wine / corn likewise springs 
up there vnthout heing sown / " and as Adam of 
Bremen closes his account of Yinland he adds these 
remarkable words : " This vk 'know not hy fahu- 
lous conjecture, hut from positive statements of the 
Danes r 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. b\) 

Now, Adam of Bremen's work was first pub- 
lished ill tlie year 1073, and was read by intelligent 
men tbroiigbout Europe ; and Columbus, being an 
educated man, and so deeply interested in geo- 
graphical studies, especially when they treated of 
the Atlantic Ocean, could he be ignorant of so 
important a work ? 

I have here given Jive reasons why Columbus 
must have known the existence of the American 
continent before he started on his voyage of discov- 
ery. 1. Gudrid's visit to Rome. 2. The appoint- 
ment, by Pope Paschal II, of Erik Upsi as Bishop of 
Yinland. 3. Adam of Bremen's account of Yinland 
in his book published in 1073. 4. The map pro- 
cured from the Vatican for the Pinzons, which fact 
I have not, however, yet been able to establish with 
absolute certainty ; and, 5, which caps the climax, 
Columbus's own visit to Iceland in the year 1477. 

These are stubborn facts, and, if you read the 
biography of Columbus, you will find that he always 
maintained a firm conviction that there was land 
in the west. He says himself that he based this 
conviction on the authority of the learned writers. 



70 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

He stated, before he left Spain, that he expected 
to find land soon after sailing about seven hundred 
leagues; hence he knew the breadth of the ocean, 
and must therefore have had a pretty definite 
knowledge of the situation of Yinland and Great 
Ireland. A day or two before coming in sight of 
the new world, he capitulated with his mutinous 
crew, promising, if he did not discover land within 
three days, to abandon the voyage. In fact the 
whole history of his discovery proves that he either 
must have possessed previous knowledge of America, 
or, as some have had the audacity to maintain, 
been inspired. We do not believe in that sort of 
inspiration. It makes Columbus a greater man, in 
our estimation, that he formed his opinion by a 
chain of logical deductions based upon thorough 
study and research. It is to the credit of Columbus, 
we say, that he investigated the nature of things; 
that he diligently searched the learned writers ; 
that he paid close attention to all reports of navi- 
gators, and gathered up all those scattered gleams 
of knowledge that fell ineffectually upon ordinary 
minds. Washington Irving says: ''When Colum- 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 71 

bus had formed his theory, it became fixed in his 
mind with singular firmness. He never spoke in 
doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as 
if his eyes had ah-eady beheld the promised land." 
We say, if he held this firm conviction on only 
presumptive evidence, then, with all due respect for 
his distinguished biographer, he is not entitled to 
the enviable reputation for scholarship and good 
judgment that has been accredited to him by Wash- 
ington Irving. We claim to be vindicating the 
great name of Columbus, by showing that he must 
have based his certainty upon equally certain facts, 
which he possessed the ability and patience to study 
out, and the keenness of intellect to put together, 
and this gives historical imjportance to the discovery 
of America by the Horsemen. The fault that we 
find with Columbus is, that he was not honest 
and frank enough to tell where and how he had 
obtained his previous information about the lands 
which he pretended to discover; that he sometimes 
talked of himself as chosen by Heaven to make this 
discovery, and that he made the fruits of his labors 
subservient to the dominion of inquisition. 



72 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 

If our theory, then, does not make Columbus 
out as true and good a man as the reader may 
have considered him, we still insist that it proves 
him a man of extraordinary ability. It shows that 
he discovered America by study and research, and 
not by accident or inspiration. Care should always 
be taken to vindicate great names from accident or 
inspiration. It defeats one of the most salutary 
purposes of history and biography which is to 
furnish examples of what human genius and laud- 
able enterprise can accomplish. 

That the Spanish and more recent colonies in 
America could become more permanent than the 
Norse colonies, is chiefly to be attributed to the 
superiority that fire-arms gave the Europeans over 
the natives. The Norsemen had no fire-arms, and 
their higher culture could not defend them against 
the swarms of savages that attacked them. In the 
next place, the Black Plague reduced the popula- 
tion of Norway and Iceland beyond the necessity or 
even possibility to emigrate. If the communication 
between Vinland and the North could have been 
maintained say one hundred years longer, that is 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 73 

to the middle of the fifteenth century, it is difficult 
to determine what the result would have been. 
Possibly this sketch would have appeared in Ice- 
landic instead of English. Undoubtedly the Norse 
colonies would have become firmly rooted by that 
time, and Norse language, nationality, and institu- 
tions might have played as conspicuous a part in 
America as the English and their posterity do 
now-a-days. 



CHAPTER XYII 



CONCLUSION. 

1) ITT it is not within the scope of this sketch 
-^-^ to discuss this subject any further. Let us 
remember Leif Erikson, the first white man who 
planted his feet on American soil ! Let us remem- 
ber his brother, Thorwald Erikson, the first Euro- 
pean and the first Christian who was buried beneath 
American sod ! Let us not forget Thorfinn and 
GuDRiD, who established the first European colony 
in America! nor their little son, Snorre, the first 
man of European blood whose birthplace was in 
the ]N"ew World ! Let us erect a monument to Leif 
Erikson worthy of the man and the cause ; and 
while the knowledge of this discovery of America 
lay for a long time hid in the unstudied literature 
of Iceland, let us take this lesson, that ''truth 
crushed to earth will rise again ; " that truth may 
often lie darkened and hid for a long time, but 



AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 75 

that it is like the beam of light from a star in 
some far distant region of the universe — after 
thousands of years it reaches some heavenly body 
and gives it light. 

In the language of Mr. Davis : " Let us praise 
Leif Erikson for his courage, let us applaud him 
for his zeal, let us respect him for his motives, for 
he was anxious to enlarge the boundaries of knowl- 
edge. He reached the wished for land, 

" * Where now the western sun 
O'er fields and floods, 
O'er every living soul 
Diffuseth glad repose.' 

He opened to the view a broad region, where smil- 
ing hope invites successive generations from the 
old world. 

" Such men as an Alexander, or a Tamerlane, 
conquer but to devastate countries. • Discoverers add 
new regions of fertility and beauty to those already 
known. 

"And are not the hardy adventurers, plowing 
the briny deep, more attractive than the troops of 
Alexander, or Napoleon, marching to conquer the 



76 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY C0LTJMBU6. 

world, with plumes waving in the gentle breeze, 
and with arms glittering in the sunbeams? Who 
can tell all the benefits that discoverers confer on 
mankind ? 

" ' To count them all demands a thousand tongues, 
A throat of brass and adamantine lungs.' " 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES; 

Their Historical, Linpistic, Literary and Scientific Talne, 

BLUCIDATBD BY 

QUOTATIONS FROM EMINENT AMERICAN, ENGLISH, 
GERMAN AND FRENCH SCHOLARS. 

NOTICE? OP THBSB LANOUAGBS BY 



H. W. LONGFELLOW, GEORGE P. MARSH, SAMUEL LAING, 

ROBERT BUCHANAN, SCHLEGEL, MALLET, 

AND OTHERS. 



SELECTED AND EDITED WITH A FEW NOTES 

BY R B. ANDERSON, A.M. 

Of the University of Wisconsin. 



WHAT SCHOLAES SAY 

ABOUT THE 

Historical, Linguistic and Literary Value 

OF THE 

SCANDIJfAVIAx\ LANGUAGES. 



" Der ar flagga pa mast ocli den visar at norr, och 
i norr jir den alskade jord ; 
jag vill folja de himmelska vindarnas gang, jag vill 
styra tillbaka mot Nord." 

— Tegner. 

ENGLISH VERSION. 

" There's the flag on the mast, and it points to the North, 
And the North holds the land that I love, 
I will steer back to northward, the heavenly course 
Of the winds guiding sure from above." 

VERY little attention has hitherto been given in 
this country to the study of Scandinavian history, 
languages and literatures. We think this branch of 
study would not be so much neglected, if it were more 
generally known, what an extensive source of intel- 
lectual pleasure it affords to the scholar who is ac- 
quainted with it. We hope, therefore, to serve a good 
cause by calling your attention to a few quotations from 
American, English, German and French scholars, who 
have given much time and attention to the above named 



80 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

subjects, in order that it may be known what they, who 
may justly be considered competent to judge, say of their 
importance. 

I will add that I have not found a scholar, who has 
devoted himself to this field of study and research, that 
has not at the same time become an enthusiastic admirer 
of Scandinavian and particularly Icelandic history, lan- 
guages, and literatures. 

To scientific students it is sufficient to say, that a 
knowledge of the Scandinavian languages at once intro- 
duces them to several writers of great eminence in the 
scientific world. I will briefly mention a few. 

Hans Christian Oersted won for himself one of 
the greatest names of the age. His discovery, in 1 820, of 
electro-magnetism — the identity of electricity and mag- 
netism — which he not only discovered, but demon- 
strated incontestably, placed him at once in the highest 
rank of physical philosophers, and has led to all the 
wonders of the electric telegraph. His great work, " The 
Soul of Nature," in which he promulgates his grand 
doctrine of the universe, abundantly repays a careful 
perusal. 

Carl von Linne (Linna?us) is the polar star in 
botany. He was Professor at the University of Sweden, 
died in 1788, and is the founder of the established system 
of botany. As Linna3us is the father of botany, so Ber- 
ZELius might be called the father of the present system 
of chemistry. He is one of the greatest ornaments of 
science. He devoted his whole life sedulously to the 
promotion and extension of his favorite science, and to 
him is the world indebted for the discovery of many 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 81 

new elementary principles and valuable chemical com- 
binations now in general use. He filled the chair of 
Chemistry in the University of Stockholm for forty-two 
years, and died in 1848. Scheele, Michael Sars, 
Hansteen, and several others, are men who have dis- 
tinguished themselves by their labors in the field of 
science, natural history and astronomy. And now read 
the following quotations, which we have promised to 
present. 

Mr. North Ludlow Beamish says : " The national 
literature of Iceland holds a distinct and eminent position 
in the literature of Europe. In that remote and cheer- 
less isle * * * * religion and learning took up their 
tranquil abode, before the south of Europe had yet 
emerged from the mental darkness, which followed the 
fall of the Koman Empire. There the unerring memo- 
ries of the Skalds and Sagamen were the depositories of 
past events, which, handed down from age to age, in one 
unbroken line of historical tradition, were committed to 
writing on the introduction of Christianity, and now 
come before us with an internal evidence of their truth, 
which places them amongst the highest order of historical 
records. 

''To investigate the origin of this remarkable ad- 
vancement in mental culture, and trace the progressive 
steps by which Icelandic literature attained an eminence 
which even now imparts a lustre to that barren land, is 
an object of interesting and instructive inquiry. 

" Among no other people of Europe can the concep- 
tion and birth of historical literature be more clearly 
traced than amongst the people of Iceland. Here it can 
be shown how memory took root, and gave birth to 



82 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

narrative; how narrative multiplied and increased until 
it was committed to writing, and how the written rela- 
tion eventually became sifted and arranged in chrono- 
logical order." 

Samuel Laing, Esq. — "All that men hope for of 
good government and future improvement in their 
physical and moral condition — all that civilized men 
enjoy at this day of civil, religious, and political liberty 
— the British constitution, representative legislature, 
the trial by jury, security of property, freedom of mind 
and person, the influence of public opinion over the con- 
duct of public affairs, the Eeformation, the liberty of the 
press, the spirit of the age, — all that is or has been of 
value to man in modern times as a member of society, 
either in Europe or in America, may be traced to the 
spark left burning upon our shores by the Norwegian 
barbarians. 

"There seem no good grounds for the favorite and 
hackneyed course of all who have written on the origin 
of the British constitution and trial by jury, who un- 
riddle a few dark phrases of Tacitus concerning the 
institutions of the ancient Germanic tribes, and trace up 
to that obscure source the origin of all political institu- 
tions connected with freedom in modern Europe. In 
the (Norwegian) Sagas we find, at a period immediately 
preceding the first traces of free institutions in our 
history, the rude but very vigorous demonstrations of 
similar institutions existing in great activity among 
those northern people, who were masters of the country 
under Canute the Great, who for two generations before 
his time had occupied and inhabited a very large portion 
of it, and of whom a branch under William of Normandy 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 83 

became its ultimate and permanent conquerors. It may 
be more classical to search in the pages of Tacitus for 
allusions to the customs of the tribes wandering in his 
day through the forests of Germany, which may bear 
some faint resemblance to modern institutions, or to 
what we fancy our modern institutions may have been 
in their infancy; but it seems more consistent with 
correct principles of historic research to look for the 
origin of our institutions at the nearest, not at the most 
remote, source; not at what existed 1,000 years before 
in the woods of Germany, among people whom we must 
believe upon supposition to have been the ancestors of 
the invaders from the north of the Elbe, who conquered 
England, and must again believe upon supposition, that 
when this people were conquered successively by the 
Danes and Normans, they imposed their own peculiar 
institutions upon their conquerors, instead of receiving 
institutions from them; but at what actually existed, 
when the first notice of assemblies for legislative pur- 
poses can be traced in English history among the con- 
querors of the country, a cognate people, long established 
by previous conquests in a large portion of it, who used, 
if not the same, at least a language common to both, 
and who had no occasion to borrow, from the conquered, 
institutions which were flourishing at the time in their 
mother country in much greater vigor. It is in these 
(Norwegian) Sagas, not in Tacitus, that we have to look 
for the origin of the political institutions of England. 
The reference of all matters to the legislative assemblies 
of the people is one of the most striking facts in the 
Sagas. 

" The Sagas, although composed by natives of Iceland, 



84 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

are properly Norwegian literature. The events, persons, 
manners, language, belong to Nortvay ; and they are 
productions, which like the works of Homer, of Shake- 
speare, and of Scott, are strongly stamped with nationality 
of character and incident. 

"A portion of that attention, w^iich has exhausted 
classic mythology, and which has too long dwelt in the 
Pantheons of Greece and Eome, and is wearied with 
fruitless efforts to learn something more, where, perhaps, 
nothing more is to be learned, may very profitably, and 
very successfully, be directed to the vast field of G-othic 
research. For we are Goths and the descendants of 
Goths — 

"• -The men, 
Of earth's best blood, of titles manifold.' 

And it well becomes us to ask, what has Zeus to do with 
the Brocken, Apollo with Effersberg, or Poseidon with 
the Northern Sea? The gods of our fathers were neither 
Jupiter, nor Saturn, nor Mercury, but Odin, Brage, or 
Eger. If we marvel at the pictures of heathen divinities 
as painted by classical hands, let us not forget, that our 
ancestors had deities of their own — gods as mighty in 
their attributes, as refined in their tastes, as heroic in 
their doings, as the gods worshiped in the Parthenon or 
talked about in the forum." 

M. Mallet says : " History has not recorded the 
annals of a people who have occasioned greater, more 
sudden, or more numerous revolutions in Europe than 
the Scandinavians, or whose antiquities, at the same 
time, are so little known. Had, indeed, their emigra- 
tions been only like those sudden torrents of which all 
traces and remembrance are soon effaced, the indifference 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 85 

that has been shown to them would have been suffi- 
ciently justified by the barbarism they have been ap- 
proached with. But, during those general inundations, 
the face of Europe underwent so total a change, and 
during the confusion they occasioned, such different 
establishments took place; new societies were formed, 
animated so entirely by the new spirit, that the history 
of our own manners and institutions ought necessarily 
to ascend back, and even dwell a considerable time upon 
a period which discovers to us their chief origin and 
source. 

" But I ought not barely to assert this. Permit me 
to support the assertions by proof. For this purpose, 
let us briefly run over all the different revolutions, which 
this part of the world underwent, during the long course 
of ages which its history comprehends, in order to see 
what share the nations of the north have had in pro- 
ducing them. If we recur back to the remotest times, 
we observe a nation issuing step by step from the forests 
of Scythia, incessantly increasing and dividing to take 
possession of the uncultivated countries, which it met 
with in its progress. Very soon after, we see the same 
people, like a tree full of vigor, extending long branches 
over all Europe ; we see them also carrying with them, 
wherever they came, from the borders of the Black Sea 
to the extremities of Spain, of Sicily, and of Greece, a 
religion simple and martial as themselves, a form of 
government dictated by good sense and liberty, a restless 
unconquered spirit, apt to take fire at the very mention 
of subjection and constraint, and a ferocious courage 
nourished by a savage and vagabond life. While the 
gentleness of the climate softened imperceptibly the fero- 



86 THE SCANDmAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

city of those who settled in the south, colonies of Egyp- 
tians and Phenicians mixing with them upon the coasts 
of Greece, and thence passing over to those of Italy, 
taught them at last to live in cities, to cultivate letters, 
arts and commerce. Thus their opinions, their customs 
and genius, were blended together, and new states were 
formed upon new plans. Eome, in the meantime arose, 
and at length carried all before her. In proportion as 
she increased in grandeur, she forgot her ancient man- 
ners, and destroyed, among the nations whom she over- 
powered, the original spirit with which they were ani- 
mated. But this spirit continued unaltered in the colder 
countries of Europe, and maintained itself there like the 
independency of the inhabitants. Scarce could fifteen 
or sixteen centuries produce there any change in that 
spirit. There it renewed itself incessantly; for, during 
the whole of that long interval, new adventurers issuing 
continually from the original inexhaustible country, 
trod upon the heels of their fathers towards the north, 
and, being in their turn succeeded by new troops of 
followers, they pushed one another forward like the 
waves of the sea. The northern countries, thus over- 
stocked, and unable any longer to contain such restless 
inhabitants, equally greedy of glory and plunder, dis- 
charged at length upon the Koman Empire the weight 
that oppressed them. The barriers of the Empire, ill 
defended by a people whom prosperity had enervated, 
were borne down on all sides by torrents of victorious 
armies. We then see the conquerors introducing, among 
the nations they vanquished, viz. into the very bosom 
of slavery and sloth, that spirit of independence and 
equality, that elevation of soul, that taste for rural and 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANaUAGES. 87 

military life, which both the one and the other had 
originally derived from the same common source, but 
which were then among the Romans breathing their last. 
Dispositions and principles so opposite, struggled long 
with forces sufficiently equal, but they united in the end, 
they coalesced together, and from their coalition sprung 
those principles and that spirit which governed after- 
wards almost all the states of Europe, and which, not- 
withstanding the differences of climate, of religion, and 
particular accidents, do visibly reign in them, and retain, 
to this day, more or less, the traces of their first common 
origin. 

" It is easy to see, from this short sketch, how greatly 
the nations of the earth have influenced the different 
fates of Europe; and if it be worth while to trace its 
revolutions to their causes; if the illustration of its 
institutions, of its police, of its customs, of its manners, 
of its laws, be a subject of useful and interesting inquiry ; 
it must be allowed, that the antiquities of the north, 
that is to say, everything which tends to make us ac- 
quainted with its ancient inhabitants, merits a share in 
the attention of thinking men. But to render this 
obvious by a particular example : is it not well known 
that the most flourishing and celebrated states of Europe 
owe originally to the northern nations whatever liberty 
they now enjoy, either in their constitution or in the 
spirit of their government? For although the Gothic 
form of government has been almost everywhere altered 
or abolished, have we not retained, in most things, the 
opinions, the customs, the manners which that govern- 
ment had a tendency to produce? Is not this, in fact, 
the principal source of that courage, of that aversion to 



88 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

slavery, of that empire of honor which Characterized in 
general the European nations ; and of that moderation, 
of that easiness of access, and peculiar attention to the 
rights of humanity, which so happily distinguish our 
sovereigns from the inaccessible and superb tyrants of 
Asia ? The immense extent of the Eom^an Empire had 
rendered its constitution so despotic and military, many 
of its emperors were such ferocious monsters, its senate 
was become so mean-spirited and vile, that all elevation 
of sentiment, everything that was noble and manly, 
seems to have been forever vanished from their hearts 
and minds; insomuch that if all Europe had received 
the yoke of Rome in this her state of debasement, this 
fine part of the world reduced to the inglorious con- 
dition of the rest could not have avoided falling into 
that kind of barbarity, which is of all others the most 
incurable; as, by making as many slaves as there are 
men, it degrades them so low as not to leave them even 
a thought or desire of bettering their condition. But 
nature has long prepared a remedy for such great evils, 
in that unsubmitting, unconquerable spirit, with which 
she has inspired the people of the north ; and thus she 
made amends to the human race for all the calamities 
which, in other respects, the inroads of these nations 
and the overthrow of the Roman Empire produced. 

" The great prerogative of Scandinavia (says the ad- 
mirable author of the Spirit of Laws*), and what ought 
to recommend its inhabitants beyond every people upon 
earth, is, that they afforded the great resource to the 
liberty of Europe, that is, to almost all the liberty that 
is among men. The Goth Jornande, adds he, calls the 

* Baron de Montesquieu (L'Esprit de Lois). 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 89 

north of Europe the forge of mankind. I should ratlier 
call it the forge of those instruments which broke the 
fetters manufactured in the south. It was there those 
valiant nations were bred who left their native climes to 
destroy tyrants and slaves, and so to teach men that 
nature having made them equal, no reason could be 
assigned for their becoming dependent but their mutual 
happiness." 

H. W. LoxGFELLOW is an enthusiastic admirer of the 
Scandinavian languages. Of the Icelandic he says: 
" The Icelandic is as remarkable as the Anglo-Saxon for 
its abruptness, its obscurity and the boldness of its 
metaphors. Poets are called Songsmiths ; — poetry, the 
Language of the Gods ; — gold, the Daylight of Dwarfs ; 
— the heavens, the Scull of Ymer; — the rainbow, the 
Bridge of the Gods ; — a battle, a Bath of Blood, the Hail 
of Odin, the Meeting of Shields ; — the tongue, the Sword 
of Words ; — river, the Sweat of Earth, the Blood of the 
Valleys ; — arrows, the Daughters of Misfortune, the 
Hailstones of Helmets ; — the earth, the Vessel that 
floats on the Ages; — the sea, the Field of Pirates; — 
a ship, the Skate of Pirates, the Horse of the Waves. 
The ancient Skald (Bard) smote the strings of his harp 
with as bold a hand as the Berserk smote his foe. When 
heroes fell in battle he sang to them in his Drapa, or 
death-song, that they had gone to drink ' divine mead 
in the secure and tranquil palaces of the gods' in that 
Valhalla upon whose walls stood the watchman Heim- 
dal, whose ear was so acute that he could hear the grass 
grow in the meadows of earth, and the wool on the 
backs of sheep. He lived in a credulous age; in the 
dim twilight of the past. He was 



90 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

" 'The sky-lark in the dawn of year's, 
The poet of the morn.' 

In the vast solitudes around him, the heart of Nature 
beat against his own. From the midnight gloom of 
groves, the deep-voiced pines answered the deeper- 
voiced and neighboring sea. To his ear, these were not 
the voices of dead, but living things. Demons rode the 
ocean like a weary steed, and the gigantic pines flapped 
their sounding wings to smite the spirit of the storm. 

"Still wilder and fiercer were these influences of 
Nature in desolate Iceland, than on the mainland of 
Scandinavia. Fields of lava, icebergs, geysers, and vol- 
canoes were familiar sights. When the long winter 
came, and the snowy Heckla roared through the sunless 
air, and the flames of the Northern Aurora flashed along 
the sky, like phantoms from Valhalla, the soul of the 
poet was filled with images of terror and dismay. He 
bewailed the death of Baldur, the sun ; and saw in each 
eclipse the horrid form of the wolf, Managamer, who 
swallowed the moon and stained the sky with blood." 

Professor W. Fiske, of Cornell University, who is 
undoubtedly the most learned northern scholar in this 
country, who has spent several years in the Scandinavian 
countries, and who is an enthusiastic admirer of Iceland 
and its Sagas, has sent me the following lines for inser- 
tion in this appendix : 

" It is not necessary to dwell on the value of Icelandic 
to those who desire to investigate the early history of the 
Teutonic race. The religious belief of our remote an- 
cestors, and very many of their primitive legal and social 
customs, some of which still influence the daily life of 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 91 

the people, find their clearest and often their only eluci- 
dation in the so-called Eddie and 8caldic lays, and in the 
Sagas. The same writings form the sole sources of 
Scandinavian history before the fourteenth century, and 
they not infrequently shed a welcome ray on the obscure 
annals of the British Islands, and of several continental 
nations. They furnish, moreover, an almost unique ex- 
ample of a modern literature which is completely indige- 
nous. The old Icelandic literature, which MoBius truly 
characterises as ^ein Phanomen vom Standpunkte der 
allgemeinen Cultur und Literaturgeschichte,' and be- 
side which the literatures of all the other early Teutonic 
dialects — G-othic, Old High German, Saxon, Frisian, 
and Anglo-Saxon — are as a drop to a bucket of water, 
developed itself out of the actual life of the people under 
little or no extraneous influence. In this respect it de- 
serves the careful study of every student of letters. For 
the English-speaking races especially there is nowhere, 
so near home, a field promising to the scholar so rich a 
harvest. The few translations, or attempted transla- 
tions, which are to be found in English, give merely 
a faint idea of the treasures of antique wisdom and 
sublime poetry which exist in the Eddie lays, or of the 
quaint simplicity, dramatic action, and striking realism 
which characterize the historical Sagas. Nor is the 
modern literature of the language, with its rich and 
abundant stores of folk-lore, unworthy of regard." 

Benjamin Lossing says: "It is back to the Nor- 
wegian Vikings we must look for the hardiest elements 
of progress in the United States." 



92 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

B. F. De Costa. — " Let us remember that in vindi- 
cating the Northmen we honor those who not only give us 
the first knowledge possessed of the American continent, 
but to whom we are indebted for much besides that we 
esteem valuable. For we fable in a great measure when 
we speak of our Saxon inheritance; it is rather from 
the Northmen that we have derived our vital energy, 
our freedom of thought, and, in a measure that we do not 
yet suspect, our strength of speech. Yet, happily, the 
people are fast becoming conscious of their indebted- 
ness ; so that it is to be hoped, that the time is not far 
distant when the Northmen may be recognized in their 
right, social, political and literary characters, and at the 
same time, as navigators, assume their true position in 
the Pre-Columbian Discovery of America. 

" The twelfth century was an era of great literary 
activity in Iceland, and the century following showed 
the same zeal. Finally Iceland possessed a body of prose 
literature superior in quantity and value to that of any 
other modern nation of its time. Indeed the natives of 
Europe at this period had no prose literature in any 
modern language spoken by the people. 

" Yet while other nations were without a literature, 
the intellect of Iceland was in active exercise, and works 
were produced like the Eddas and Heimskrin^gla, 
works which, being inspired by a lofty genius, will rank 
with the writings of Homer and Herodotus while time 
itself endures."' 

Says Sir Edmund Head, in regard to the Norwegian 
literature of the twelfth century: "No doubt there were 
translations in Anglo-Saxon from the Latin, by Alfred, 
of an earlier date, but there Avas in truth no vernacular 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 93 

literature. I cannot name," he says, "any work in 
high or low German prose, which can be carried back to 
this period. In France, prose writing cannot be said to 
have begun before the time of Villehardouin (1204) and 
Joinville (1202) ; Castilian prose certainly did not begin 
before the time of Alfonso X (1252); Don Juan Manvel, 
the author of Conde Lucanor, was not born till 1282. 
The Cronica General de Espana was not composed till 
at least the middle of the thirteenth century. About 
the same time the language of Italy was acquiring that 
softness and strength, which were destined to appear so 
conspicuously in the prose of Boccaccio and the writers 
of the next century. 

" Of course there was more or less poetry, yet poetry 
is something that is early developed among the rudest 
nations, while good^;ro5e tells that apeoj^le have become 
highly advanced in mental culture." 

William and Mary Howitt. — "There is nothing 
besides the Bible, which sits in a divine tranquility of 
unapproachable nobility, like a King of Kings amongst 
all other books, and. the poem of Homer itself, which 
can compare in all the elements of greatness with the 
Edda. Tliere is a loftiness of stature, and a growth of 
muscle about it which no poets of the same race have 
ever since reached. The obscurity which hangs over 
some parts of it, like the deep shadows crouching mid 
the ruins of the past, is probably the result of delapida- 
tions ; but amid this stand forth the boldest masses of 
intellectual masonry. We are astonished at the wisdom 
which is shaped into maxims, and at the tempestuous 
strength of passions to which all modern emotions appear 
puny and constrained. Amid the bright sunlight of a 



94 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGP:S. 

far-off time, surrounded by the densest shadows of for- 
gotten ages, we come at once into the midst of gods 
and heroes', goddesses and fair women, giants and dwarfs, 
moving about in a world of wonderful construction, 
unlike any other worlds or creations which God has 
founded or man has imagined, but still beautiful beyond 
conception. 

"The Icelandic poems have no parallel in all the 
treasures of ancient literature. They are the expressions 
of the souls of poets existing in the primeval and un- 
effeminated earth. They are limnings of men and women 
of godlike beauty and endowments, full of the vigor of 
simple but impetuous natures. There are gigantic pro- 
portions about them. There are great and overwhelming 
tragedies in them, to which those of Greece only present 
any parallels. 

" The Edda is a structure of that grandeur and im- 
portance, that it deserves to be far better known to us 
generally, than it is. The spirit in it is sublime and 
colossal." 

Pliny Miles. — "The literary history of Iceland in 
the early ages of the Republic, is of a most interesting 
character. When we consider the limited population of 
the country, and the many disadvantages under which 
they labored, their literature is the most remarJcahle on 
record. The old Icelanders, from the tenth to the six- 
teenth century, through a period of the history of the 
world when little intellectual light beamed from the 
surrounding nations, were as devoted and ardent workers 
in the fields of history and poetry as any community in 
the world under the most favorable circumstances. 
Springing from the old Norse or Norwegian stock, they 



THE SCANDINAYIAN LANGUAGES. 95 

carried the language and habits of their ancestors with 
them to their highland home. Though a very large 
number of our English words are derived direct from 
the Icelandic, yet the most learned and indefatigable of 
our lexicographers, both in England and America, have 
acknowledged their ignorance of this language. 

" The Eddas abound in mythological machinery to 
an extent quite equal to the writings of Homer and 
Virgil." 

The learned German writer Schlegel, in his "Es- 
thetics and Miscellaneous Works," says : " If any monu- 
ment of the primitive northern world deserves a place 
amongst the earlier remains of the south, the Icelandic 
Edda must be deemed worthy of that distinction. The 
spiritual veneration for Nature, to which the sensual 
Greek was an entire stranger, gushes forth in the mys- 
terious language and prophetic traditions of the North- 
ern Edda with a full tide of enthusiasm and inspiration 
sufficient to endure for centuries, and to supply a whole 
race of future bards and poets with a precious and ani- 
mating elixir. The vivid delineations, the rich glowing 
abundance and animation of the Homeric pictures of 
the world, are not more decidedly superior to the misty 
scenes and shadowy forms of Ossian, than the Northern 
Edda is in its subU?nity to the works of Hesiod." 

Brof. Dr. Dietrich asserts " that the Scandinavian 
literature is extraordinarily rich in all kinds of writings." 

Hon. George P. Marsh. — "It must suffice to re- 
mark that, in the opinion of those most competent to 
judge, the Icelandic literature has never been surpassed. 



96 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

if equaled, in all that gives value to that portion of his- 
tory which consists of spirited delineations of character 
and faithful and lively pictures of events among nations 
in a rude state of society. 

" That the study of the Old-Northern tongue may 
have an important bearing on English grammar and 
etymology, will be obvious, when it is known that the 
Icelandic is most closely allied to the Anglo-Saxon, of 
wiiich so few monuments are extant; and a slight 
examination of its structure and remarkable syntactical 
character will satisfy the reader that it may well deserve 
the attention of the philologist." 

/ The excellent writer, Charles L. Brace, in speak- 
ing of Iceland, says : '' The Congress, or ' Althing,' of 
the Icelanders, had many of the best political features 
which have distinguished parliamentary government in 
all branches of the Teutonic race since. Every free- 
holder voted in it, and its decisions governed all inferior 
courts. It tried the lesser magistrates, and chose the 
presiding officers of the colony. 

" To this remote island (Iceland) came, too, that re- 
markable profession, who were at once the poets, his- 
torians, genealogists and moralists of the Norse race, 
the Scalds. These men, before writing was much in 
use, handed down by memory, in familiar and often 
alliterative poetry, the names and deeds of the brave 
Norsemen, their victories on every coast of Europe, 
their histories and passions, and wild deaths, their 
family ties, and the boundaries of their possessions, 
their adventures and voyages, and even their law and 
their mythology. In fact, all that history and legal 



THE SCANt)INAVIAN LANGUAGES. 97 

documents, and geDealogical records and poetry transmit 
now, was handed down by these bards of the Norsemen. 
Iceland became their peculiar center and home. Here, 
in bold and vivid language, they recorded in works, 
which posterity will never let die, the achievements of 
the Vikings, the conquest of almost every yeople in Europe 
hy these vigorous ^^irates ; their wild ventures, their 
contempt of pain and death, their absolute joy in 
danger, combat and difficulty. In these, the oldest re- 
cords of our {i. e. the Americans') forefathers, will be 
found even among these wild rovers the respect for law 
which has characterized every branch of the Teutonic 
race since; here, a7id not in the Siviss cantons, is the 
leginning of Parliament and Congress ; here, and not 
ivith the Anglo-Saxons, is the foundation of trial ly jury; 
and here, among their most ungoverned wassail, is that 
high reverence for ivoman, which has again come forth hy 
inheritance among the Anglo- Norse Americajis. The 
ancestors (at least morally) of Ealeigh and Nelson, and 
Kane and Farragut, appear in these records, among 
these sea-rovers, whose passion was danger and venture 
on the waters. Here, too, among such men as the 
* Raven Floki,' is the prototype of those American 
pioneers who follow the wild birds into pathless wilder- 
nesses to found new Republics. And it is the Norse 
^^udal" pro2:)erty, not the Euroj^ean feudal ])roiJerty, 
which is the model for the American descendants of the 
ancient Norsemen. 

" In these Icelandic Sagas, too, is portrayed the deep 
moral sentiment which characterizes the most ancient 
mythology of the Teutonic races. Here we have no 
dissolute Pantheon, with gods reveling eternally in 



98 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

earthly vices, and the evils and wrongs of humanity 
continued forever. Even the ghosts of the Northmen 
have the muscle of the race ; they are no pale shadows 
flitting through the Orcus. The dead fight and eat with 
the vigor of the living. But there comes a dread time, 
when destiny overtakes all, both human and divine 
beings, and the universe with its evil and wrong must 
perish (Eagnarokr). Yet even the crack of doorn finds 
not the Norsemen timid or fearing. Gods and men die 
in the heat of the conflict; and there survives alone, 
Baldur, the "God of Love," who shall create a new 
heaven and a new earth. 

"It is from Iceland that we get the wonderful poetic 
and mythologic collections of the ^ Elder' and 'Younger 
Edda.' In this remote island the original Norse lan- 
guage was preserved more purely than it was in Norway 
or Denmark, and the Icelandic literature shed a flood of 
light over a dark and barbarous age. Even now the 
modern Icelanders can read or repeat their most ancient 
Sagas with but little change of dialect. 

" But to an American, one of the most interesting 

gifts of Iceland to the world is the record of the dis- 
cs 

covery of Northern America by Icelandic rovers (?) near 
the year 1000. 

" We think few scholars can carefully read these Sagas, 
and the accompanying in regard to Greenland, without 
a conviction that the Icelandic and Norwegian Vikings 
did at that early period discover and land on the coast 
of our Eastern States. * * * * The shortest 
winter day is stated with such precision as to fix the 
latitude near the coast of Massachusetts and Ehode 
Island. * * * * Iceland, then, has the honor 
of having discovered America. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 99 

"That volcano-raised island, with its mountains of 
ice and valleys of lava and ashes, has played no mean 
part in the world's history." — Christian Union, July 15, 
187Jf. 

The famous Geokge Stephens, in his elaborate work 
on "Eunic Monuments," having discussed the impor- 
tance of studying the Scandinavian languages in order 
that many of our fine old roots may again creep into 
circulation, says : " Let us (the English) study the Scan- 
dinavian languages, and ennoble and restore our mother 
tongue. Let the Scandinavians study Old English as 
well as their own ancient records, give up mere provincial 
views, and melt their various dialects into one shining, 
rich, sweet and manly speech, as we have done in Eng- 
land. Their High Northern shall then live forever, the 
home language of eight millions of hardy freemen, our 
brothers in the east sea, our Warings and Guardsmen 
against the grasping clutches of the modern Hun and 
the modern Vandal. The time may come when the 
kingdom of Canute may be restored in a nobler shape, 
when the bands of Sea-kings shall rally round one 
Northern Union standard, when one scepter shall sway 
the seas and coasts of our forefathers from the Thames 
to the North Cape, from Finland to the Eider. 

"We have watered our mother tongue long enough 
with bastard Latin ; let us now brace and steel it with 
the life-water of our own sweet and soft and rich and 
shining and clear ringing and manly and world-ranging, 
ever dearest English ! " 

In his preface to his Icelandic grammar. Dr. G. W. 
Dasent says : " Putting aside the study of Old Norse 



100 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 

for the sake of its magnificent literature, and consider- 
ing it merely as an accessory help for the English student, 
we shall find it of immense advantage, not only in trac- 
ing the rise of words and idioms, but still more in clear- 
ing up many dark points in our early history; in fact, 
so highly do I value it in this respect, that I cannot 
imagine it possible to write a satisfactory history of the 
Anglo-Saxon period without a thorough knowledge of 
the Old Norse Literature." 

Dk. Dasent, in his introduction to Cleasby's and 
Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, says of Iceland : " No 
other country in Europe possesses an ancient vernacular 
to be compared with this." And again : " Whether in 
a literary or in a philological point of view, no literature 
in Europe in the middle ages can compete in interest 
with that of Iceland. It is not certainly in forma pau- 
peris that she appears at the tribunal of learning." In 
another place he remarks: "In it (the Dictionary) the 
English student now possesses a key to that rich store of 
knowledge which the early literature of Iceland possesses. 
He may read the Eddas and Sagas, which contain sources 
of delight and treasures of learning such as no other 
language but that of Iceland possesses." 

The distinguished German scholar, ETTMtJLLER, in 
comparing the literature of the Anglo-Saxons with that 
of the Icelanders, says : " Neither the Goths, nor the 
Germans, nor the French can be compared with the 
Anglo-Saxons in the cultivation of letters. By the Scayi- 
dinavians alone, they are not only equaled, but also sur- 
passed in literature." And again : "If the Scandinavians 
excel in lyric poetry, the Anglo-Saxons can boast of their 



THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 101 

epic poetry. If the famous island in the remote north- 
ern sea applied itself with distinguished honor to his- 
torical studies, the isle of the Anglo-Saxons is especially 
entitled to praise from the fact that it produced orators, 
who, considering the time in which they lived, were de- 
cidedly excellent." 

Max Mt)LLER, in his " Science of Language," says : 
"There is a third stream of Teutonic speech, which it 
would be impossible to place in any but a co-ordinate 
position with regard to Gothic, Low and High German. 
This is the Scandinavian branch." 

In Wheaton's " History of the Northmen," we find 
the following passages : " The Icelanders cherished and 
cultivated the language and literature of their ancestors 
with remarkable success. * * * * In Iceland an 
independent literature grew up, flourished, and was 
brought to a certain degree of perfection hefore the re- 
vival of learning in the south of Eiiro^e.^^ 

Egbert Buchanan, the eminent English writer, in 
reviewing the modern Scandinavian literature, says: 
" While German literature darkens under the malignant 
star of Deutschthum, while French art, sickening of its 
long disease, crawls like a leper through the light and 
wholesome world, while all over the Euroi3ean continent 
one wan influence or another asserts its despair-engen- 
dering SAvay over books and men, whither shall a be- 
wildered student fly for one deep breath of pure air and 
wholesome ozone ? Goethe and Heine have sung their 
best — and worst; Alfred de Musset is dead, and Victor 
Hugo is turned politician. Grillparzer is still a mystery. 



102 THE SCANDIN" AVIAN LANGUAGES. 

thanks partly to the darkening medium of Oarlyle's 
hostile criticism. From the ashes of Teutonic tran- 
scendentalism rises Wagner like a Phcenix, — a bird too 
uncommon for ordinary comprehension, but to all in- 
tents and purposes an anomaly at best. One tires of 
anomalies, one sickens of politics, one shudders at the 
petticoat literature first created at Weimar ; and looking 
east and west, ranging with a true invalid's hunger the 
literary horizon, one searches for something more natu- 
ral, for some form of indigenous and unadorned love- 
liness, wherewith to fleet the time pleasantly, as they 
did in the golden world. 

"That something may be found without traveling- 
very far. Turn northward, in the footsteps of Teufels- 
drochk, traversing the great valleys of Scandinavia, and 
not halting until, like the philosopher, you look upon 
' that slowly heaving Polar Ocean, over which in the 
utmost north the great sun hangs low.' Quiet and peace- 
ful lies Norway yet as in the world's morning. The 
flocks of summer tourists alight upon her shores, and 
scatter themselves to their numberless stations, without 
disturbing the peaceful serenity of her social life. * * * 
The government is a virtual democracy, such as would 
gladden the heart of Gambetta, the Swedish monarch's 
rule over Norway being merely titular. There are no 
hereditary nobles. There is no ^gag' on the press. 
Science and poetry alike flourish on this free soil. The 
science is grand as Nature herself, cosmic as well as 
microscopic. The poetry is fresh, light, and pellucid, 
worthy of the race and altogether free from Parisian 
taint." "^\ 



THE SCAKDIKAVIAN LANGUAGES. 103 

" Bjornstjerne Bjornsok,* one of the most emi- 
nent of living Norwegian authors, is something more 
than even the finest pastoral taleteller of this generation. 
He is a dramatist of extraordinary power. He does not 
possess the power of imaginative fancy shown by Werge- 
landf (in such pieces as Jan van Hiiysnms Blomster- 
stylcke), nor Welhaven'sJ refinement of phrase, nor the 
wild melodious abandon of his greatest rival, the author 
of Peer Gyut :\ but, to my thinking at least, he stands 
as a poet in a far higher rank than any of these writers. 

" In more than one respect, particularly in the loose, 
disjointed structure of the piece, ^ Sigurd Slemle ' re- 
minds one of Goethe's ' Goetz^ but it deals with materials 
far harder to assimilate, and is on the whole a finer 
picture of romantic manners. Audhild (a prominent 
character in 'Sigurd Slembe/) is a creation worthy of 
Goethe at his best ; worthy, in my opinion, to rank with 
Cl^erchen, Marguerite, and Mignon, as a masterpiece of 
delicate characterization. And here I may observe, inci- 



* B.TOBNSTJ^RNE B.TORNSON was bom ill 1832; has written several novels, 
dramas, and epic poems. " Sigurd Sle7nbe'" is a drama, published in 1863, of 
which Robert Buchanan says : " It is, besides being a masterpiece by its 
author, a drama of which any living European author might be justly proud." 
Several of his novels, including "Arne," "A Happy Boy," "The Fisher- 
maiden," have been translated into English. 

t Henrik Arnold Wergeland was born in 1808, and died in 1845. He ig 
the Byron of the North. His works comprise nine ponderous volumes. He 
excelled in lyrics. 

i John Sebastian Welhaven, born in 1807, died 1873. Remarkable for 
the elegance and chasteness of his style. No poet has more beautifully and 
correctly described the natural scenery of Norway. 

!i The author of ''■Peer Gyuf'' is Henrik Ibsen, born in 1828. Was en- 
gaged by Ole Bull as instructor at the theatre in Bergen, which position he 
occupied six years. He has written several dramatic works, chiefly of a 
polemic and exceedingly satirical nature. Many of his countrymen prefer 
Ibsen to BjOrnson. His last work is '• KeUer og GalUiver." 



104 THE SCANDIKAVIAN LANGtJAGES. 

dentally, that Bjornson excels in his pictures of delicate 
feminine types, — a proof, if proof were wanting, that he 
is worthy to take rank with the highest class of poetic 
creators." 

I might add to the above quotations from Max Miil- 
ler, the brothers Grimm and many other eminent writers; 
but in the first place this article is long enough, and in 
the next place the works of the last named authors are 
accessible to all who may wish to iijvestigate this sub- 
ject further. My object has been to show that, in the 
opinion of those who have studied the subject, the North 
has a history, language and literature deserving and 
amply rewarding some attention from American stu- 
dents. Of the good or ill performance of this task the 
reader, whom I earnestly request carefully to consider 
the contents of these pages, must be the judge. 



PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS 6- CO., CHICAGO. 



A LITERATURE OF A THOUSAND YEARS: 

Now opening to the research of American Scholars. 
RECENTLY PUBLISHED: 

With a Vocabulary, designed for American Students of the 
Norwegian-Danish Language. 

BY REV. C. I. P. PETERSOI^, 

Professor of Scandinavian Literature, and Member of the Chicago Academy 
of Sciences. 



*i02 pages. 



PWce, $1.25. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



I. GRAMMAR. 

Orthographt. - - 11 

Etymology. - . . . 13 

Articles. 13 

Nouns. ----- 13 

Adjectives. 17 

Numerals, . ^ - - . 21 

Pronouns. 22 

Verbs, 25 

Adverbs, 36 

Prepositions. . . . . 36 

Conjunctions, - - - - 37 

Interjections. - - - - 37 

Syntax. 38 

Idioms, ----- 44 

Proverbs, ----- 52 

II. READER. 

HISTORICAL sketches AND TALES. 

Norway a Thousand Years Ago. 54 
The Kings of Norway. 

H. Wer(]r€larid, - - - 57 

Rollo of Normandy. S. Petersen. 62 
The Discovery of Iceland. 

P. A. Mvnch. - - - - &3 
The Discovery of America by the 

Northmen. D. Schoyen. - - 66 
A Legend about St. Olaf. 

S. Welharen. - - - - 6H 
The Battle at Stanford Bridge. 

S. Petersen. - - - - 71 

The Song of Sinclair. K Sfo7'nu 73 

The Union of N'w'y and Sweden. 76 

Tale-Tellers. J. Moe. - - - 78 
Old Mother Margrethe at the Gate 

of Heaven. //. (J. Andersen. 79 
Canute the Great. A. Oehlen- 

schlcEf/er, . . . . 82 

Navy Sorig. ./oh. EvaZd. - - 85 
Norwegian Flag Song. 

C.N. Schwach, - - - 86 

Patriotic Song. B. Bjdrvj(on. 87 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 

Commemoration of Luther. 

iV. F. S. Grimdfvig, - - 89 
King Christian IV. F. Hammerich, 91 

Thomas Kingo. M. Hammerich. 92 

Niels Juel. 95 

Ludvig Holberg. C. A. Thwtsen. 96 

Peter Tordenskjold, - - - 100 

Hans Egede. .... 102 

Bertel Thorvaldsen, - - - 104 
Adam Oehlenschlseger. 

M. Hammerich. • - - 106 

Chi-istopher Hansteen. - - 109 

Michael Sars. - - - - 110 



SKETCHES PROM NATURE. 

The Waters of Norway. 

L. K. Daa. - - - - 
A Trip Across Norway. 

The Aufh(y)\ ... - 
The Midnight Sun. (Fr. Bayard 

Taylor's '^ Northern Travel.''' 
Herds of Reindeer in Finmarken. 

N. V. Stocl-fleth. - 
Ascension of the •■ Horsemen 

Mountain." A. Vibe, - 
Reindeer-Hunting on the "High 

Mountain." ^P. Asbjornsen. 
A Norwegian Patriotic Song. 

^S. O. Wolff, - - - - 
The Departure. A. Mvnch. 
A Stranding on the West'n Coast 

of Jutland. -S-. S. Blicher. - 

III. VOCABULARY, 

IV. Remarks on the History of 

the Norwegian-Danish 
Language, 



114 



123 



130 
132 



133 



192 



Notes on the Authors from 
whom Selections have 
been made, - - 197 to 202 



PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS &- CO., CHICAGO. 
•^TVH^A^T IS S^^IID OF 

peteiiso:n^'s 



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In my judsnnent the author has done himself much credit, and I trust 
his Grammar will be the means of inducing many Americans to study the 
Norwegian language, literature and history.— Pro/'. R. B. Anderson, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. 

I may say that I have myself read through the Norwegian-Danish Gram- 
mar of Peterson, and when I aflarm that I find myself able to translate the 
reading exercises with great readiness, it may be inferred how well the book 
is adapted to forward one in a knowledge of this interesting but neglected 
language.— J.. Winchell, late Chancellor of the University of Syracuse, N. T. 

Just what I want myself, and I believe that a great many others will tell 
you the same. The plan of the book is simple and judicious ; the execution 
is excellent. The selections of the reader I should judge to be very happy. 
The author is much indebted to his publishers for the handsome dress of his 
work.— Pro/". William W. FolwelL President of the University of Minnesota. 

I rejoice to see the door opened to American students to the treasures of 
Norwegian letters, and in so attractive a manner as in Mr. Peterson's work. 
No more useful direction for philological study opens before English scholars 
now than the research into the Anglo-Saxon and Norse Northern tongues. 
This work will be surely a valuable help in this direction.— ^e:i;. Frank Sewell. 
Preside?it of Urba?ia University, Ohio. 

By the aid of this text-book one may find his way into the literary trea- 
sures of Norway and Denmark, which, although not great in numbers, have a 
great literature.— C'/wmg^o Journal. 

The Scandinavian languages and literature are rapidly becoming of a like 
importance and value, to Americans, with the German. * * * The manual 
here oftered to the public is an exceedingly convenient and serviceable one, 
comprising grammar, reader, and dictionary within the compass of one handy 
volume. To one who has some knowledge of German especially, and to any 
one in fact, it is a comparatively easy matter, with the aid of such a manual, 
to get a substantial foothold in this field of linguistic study.- T'/ie Standard. 
Chicago. 

This little work fills a want which has long been felt. The throngs of 
incoming Scandinavian immigrants, who are yearly adding to the swarms 
already here, will soon make the Norwegian-Danish tongue as important an 
element in business and life as the German is at the present. * * Irre- 
spective of the practical usefulness of the acquisition of the Norwegian- 
Danish tongue, its wealth of literature cannot fail to make it an object of the 
deepest interest to the scholar and the man of culture. It cannot be doubted 
that Mr. Peterson has in this little text-book made a genuine addition of not 
a little importance to the literature of schools, which will result in wide- 
spread henQ^i.— Chicago Times. 

Sent, postag-e paid, on receipt of $1.25 by 

S. C. GRIGGS & CO., 

Publishers, CHICAGO. 



